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Resources and Natural Advantages 



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(AU lines are counted containing <i word.) 

Page 5, 17 lines from bottom, for carable read Carrnhdle. 

Page 20, bottom line, for on read of. 

Page 33, 6th line from bottom, for Cuba read Cuban. 

Page 35, 11 lines from bottom, for is read are. 

Page 41, 21st line from bottom, for Liberty read Franklin. 

Page 41, 19th line from bottom, for to read of. 

Page 42, oth line from bottom, for thribble read trehllt. 

Page 32, 5th line from bottom, for phosporic read pfiosjihorir. 

Page 44, 3rd line from top, for lime read iron. 

Page 44, 8th line from bottom, after the word calcium read irif?t (>.i-(/<jtn. 

Page 57, 7th line from bottom, for therefore read theretofore ; for 890,000 read.?^^. 

Page 68, 17 lines from bottom, for 28 read 22. 

Page 69, end of 8th line from top, add completed. 

Page 69, 16th line from bottom, for Ausantia read Aurantia. 

Page 70, end of 15th line from top, add completed. 

Page 73, 8th line from top, for lomoka read Tornoko. 

Page 76, 6th line from bottom, for oi- read on. 

Page 80, 11th line from top, omit the word penal. 

Page 77, 13th line from bottom, for 104 read 76'. 

Page 80, 23d line from top, for 30 read 40. 

Page 80, 24th line from top, after per cent, read of that decade. 

Page 80, 16th line from bottom, after the word per cent, add in Komr of the south. 
''Til. counties. 

Page 80, 6th line from bottom, for on read only. 

Page 91, hnes 16, 17 and 18 : No Internal Improvement lands were sold to Diss- 
ton Company, 



DEI'^IlT^d:EIS^T OF IlMMiail^TION. 






A PAMPHLET DESCRIPTIVE 



OF ITS 



HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, SOIL, 



RESOURCES AitfD STATURAL ADVAIS^TAGES. 



PREPARED B^ THE INTEREST OF IMMIGRATION 



• BY- 



A. A. ROBINSO^^, 

Commissioner of State Bureau of Immigration. 



i j'l , f 



TALLAHASSEE, FLA, : 

PRINTED AT THE FLORIDIAX BOOK AND JOB OPFICK. 

1882. 






\.i 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION, 



Florida, the southeastern State of the United States, lies between 25 
degrees and 31 degrees north latitude, and between 80 degrees and 88 de- 
grees west longitude from Greenwich. 

Until recently the area has been estimated at 59,268 square miles, but 
according to a bulletin recently issued by the Census Bureau the State con- 
tains but 58,680 square miles. In this latter document the coast waters, 
bays, gulfs, sounds, harbors. &c., are pat down at 1800 square miles of sur- 
face ; rivers and smaller streams at 390 square miles ; lakes and ponds at 
2,250 square miles — making the whole water surface 4,440 square miles, and 
leaving 54,240 square miles of land surface, or 34,713,600 acres. 

Italy is said to resemble in shape a boot, with the foot turned south- 
ward. Florida has somewhat the same resemblance with the foot turned 
northward. The peninsular portion, measuring from the northern boundary, 
extends south about 400 miles, with an average width of about 100 miles. 
The northern part of the State extends from the Atlantic westward along 
the southern boundary of the States of Georgia and Alabama about 375 
miles, with a width to the Gulf of from 40 to 90 miles. 

North and South America, Africa and Asia, owing to some great natu- 
ral causes which worked in their formation, are all pointed or narrowed in 
their breadth in their farthest extension south. Florida, probably from the 
operation of the same causes, is of similar shape in her southern extremity. 
Her territory- is included in the same zone in which, according to the most 
ancient of books, the human race had its origin, and in which the Garden 
of Eden was said to be situated. This zone embraces the territory of the 
ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome. 

The average altitude of Florida, as set forth in Toner's Dictionary of 
Elevations of the United States, is 60 feet above the level of the sea. This 
is a somewhat lower average level than that of any other of the States. 
Louisiana, the next lowest according to that authority, is 75 feet above the 
sea in its average. The larger portion of the territory of all the States on 



Florida — Its Climate,, Soil and Productions. 



the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida is less than 300 feet above the 
sea level by this authority. 

There is an impression with some that high places are the most healthy, 
but this does not always follow, and is not the testimony ot experience 
here in Florida. Sometimes the lower places in the same neighborhood 
have had quite the advantage in point of health. In the Old "W«rld, some 
healthful and fertile localities are below the level of the ocean, as the valley 
of the Jordan, more than 1,000 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean 
sea, the shores of the Caspian sea, and portions of Holland reclaimed from 
the ocean by its dykes. 

The early history of Florida was not one of rapid and encouraging 
devel(Jiiment. From 1565, the date of the settlement of St. Augusiine, the 
oldest town in the Union, to the cession of 1819-21, the territory was 
claimed by Spain, except the 20 years under British authority from 1768 to 
1783. In 1763 the Floridas, East and West, were ceded by Spain to Great 
Britain, but in 1783 Great Britain, having lost the thirteen American Colo- 
nies in the war of 1776 and succeeding years, receded the Floridas to Spain. 
Thus for more than 250 years the territory was in the grasp of a power far 
away, and of a monarch whose people regarded the territory too much in- 
ferior to the fatherland to invite immigration. 

On the 22d of February, 1819, a treaty was made between John Q. 
Adamft, Secretary of State of the United States, of the one part, and Luis 
De Onis, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the King- 
dom of Spain, on the other part, each vested by their respective govern- 
ments with full power to act, ceding the Floridas to the United States. On 
the 24th of October, 1820, the treaty was ratified by the King of Spain, and 
by the United States, February 19th, 1821. By one of the stipulations of 
the treaty the United States were to "satisfy all just claims which the in- 
habitants and Spanish officers of the Floridas may have upon them in con- 
sequence of the damages they may have sustained b}^ the operations and 
proceedings of the American army." In the war of 1812-15 between the 
United States and England the United States had stationed troops for a 
time on Spanish soil in Florida. Another stipulation, the eleventh article 
of the treaty, states the agreement of the United States to pay to her own 
citizens' claims against Spain for damages done to their commerce in Span- 
ish waters to the extent of $5,000,000. But the correspondence in reference 
to the treaty, and a note by the Spanish Minister to this eleventh article, 
show that the $5,000,000 was only a small item in the incentive to con- 
cluding the treaty. In this note to the eleventh article the Spanish Minis- 
ter says, his government would not make the cession for $20,000,000 but for 
the desire to arrange and terminate all differences with the United States. 
The leading consideration which moved Spain to the cession, was the ad- 
justment of the boundary between the two countries west of the Mississippi, 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



and of the Louisiana purchase by the United States from France. The 
boundary line agreed upon was to commence at the mouth of the Sa- 
bine river and run along the western bank of said river to the 32d degree 
of north latitude ; thence due north to Red river ; thence along said 
river to the one hundredth parallel of west longitude from London and 23 
from Washington ; thence crossing the river due north to Arkansas river ; 
thence along the southern bank of said river to its source in latitude 42 de- 
grees north ; thence " by that parallel of latitude to the South sea." 

With a coast line of nearly 1,200 miles, accessible with small boats all 
along the shore, the long, narrow figure of Florida puts its whole surface 
in near approach to the commerce of the ocean. Some of the best harbors 
of the United States are on the coast of Florida. Only Portsmouth, N. H., 
has deeper water (42 feet) than Key West, where is found a draft of 36 feet. 
The next deepest water in any harbor on the Atlantic coast is at Boston, 
(28 feet,) which is only one foot deeper than the water off Gasparilla key, 
in Charlotte harbor, which shows 27 feet within two rods of the shore. 
True, there is a narrow sand bar with only 18^ feet of water at low tide to 
be passed in reaching it, but with far less cost than has been expended upon 
many of the ports along the Atlantic coast, the water on that bar can be 
made of any required depth. New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Pen- 
sacola are stated to be 24 feet ; but this is the depth after the expenditure 
of labor and cost upon most of them. Baltimore is said to have been deep- 
ened from 15 to 24 feet. Wilmington, N. C.,and Charleston, S. C, register 
21 feet, and Savannah, Ga., 22 feet. But as the bars at Charleston and Sa- 
vannah were dredged or deepened from 16 feet to their present depth, so 
the waters at Fernandina, Charlotte Harbor, Manatee, Tampa and Rio 
Carrablle, with the same labor, may be made even more than that ; so 
that with an equitable expenditure upon her harbors Florida will have a 
larger number of ports accessible to ocean steamers than any of her sister 
States. 

Nineteen of the rivers of Florida are already navigable by steamers 
to the distance, in the aggregate, of over 1,000 miles. Their names, begin- 
ning on the east, are : St. Johns, Ocklawaha, Indian River, Kissimmee, 
Caloosahatchie, Peace River, Manatee, Alafia, Homosassa, Withlacoochee, 
Suwannee, St. Marks, Wakulla, Ocklockonee, Apalachicola, Chipola, Choc- 
tawhatchie, Escambia and Perdido. These streams, flowing in some in- 
stances entirely across the State, make transportation available to extensive 
areas, and in almost every instance have at their mouths such harbor facili- 
ties as make coast-wise navigation to vessels of moderate draft safe and 
active. 

The railway system of the State embraces some sixty railroads, com- 
pleted or projected ; and half a dozen or more canal companies have also 
been chartered. There are fourteen railways already completed in whole or 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



in part. Their aggregated length now in use is 750 miles. It is estimated 
that at this date (June, 1882,) there are several thousand hands at work 
constructing road-beds in the State, and every week adds to the number of 
miles in actual operation. The aggregate length of the railways now in 
use and of those chartered is more than 5,000 miles. Some of these roads 
may not, and probabl}' will not be built, but the prospect is that a large 
proportion of them will be ; the encouragement offered by the State assures 
this much. All these companies have the right-of-way through the State 
lands, and also the right to acquire alternate sections of laud for six miles 
on each side of proposed routes, amounting to 3,840 acres per mile. The 
enhanced value of these lands, as soon as the roads are built through them, 
will at reader sale pay the cost of building a narrow-gauge road, and a num- 
ber of them are of this class. 

Some of these companies also have the same right-of-wa}', together 
with grant of alternate sections, through the United States lands. But the 
stronger incentive for the construction of these roads, or at least some of 
them, apart from their value when completed, is yet to be mentioned. The 
Legislature in chartering some of them offered, additionally to the right-of- 
way and to alternate sections, in the aggregate over 13,000,000 acres of 
land. To some of them this bonus is five, to some six, to some ten, and to 
some twenty thousand acres to the mile ; and some of them after building 
their roads and selling their lands will have the roads as clear profit. A 
further incentive to railroad building in Florida is the level surface over 
which most of the roads are to pass. Years ago railway statistics showed 
the roads in England to cost about $40,000 per mile, and in the United 
States about $20,000 per mile ; but now, in Florida, the estimate is that a 
narrow-gauge road can be built and economically equipped at a cost of $5,- 
000 per mile. 

As fast as these roads are completed, saw-mills are erected for convert- 
ing the growing trees into lumber, aud thus furnishing a remunerative 
amount of way freightage while the country is still but sparsely settled. 
The turpentine distilled from the pine and the resin thus supplied, adds to 
this freightage ; and, before these are exhausted, vegetables and fruits, 
tropical and serai-tropical, for Northern markets will take their place. 

There are six charters for canals, with an aggregated length of over 
TOO miles. Some of these, like some of the chartered railways, will never 
be constructed, perhaps, but upon others the companies are already at work. 
The canals, like the railways, have the right-of-way, with alternate sections 
of State lands they pass through, when constructed " in accordance with 
such plans and specifications of construction as ma}' have been agreed upon 
between the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund and the Board of 
Directors of such railroad or canal company." 

Four of these canals propose i^assage through the peninsula, connect- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



ing the Atlantic with the waters of the Gulf. One of these, " The Atlantic 
and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Company," proposes to make 
a passage for vessels from the navigable waters of the Caloosahatchie 
through Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic. The next one, further north, 
from Charlotte harbor through Manatee and Brevard counties to St. Lucie, 
on Indian river. The next, further north, commencing in Levy county, at 
the mouth of the Withlacoochee, runs through the counties of Levy, Marion, 
and Volusia, to " New Britain on the Atlantic ;" and the one farthest 
north, " The Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Ship Canal," from " Cumberland 
sound in the harbor of Fernandina through the counties of Nassau, Duval, 
Clay, Bradford, Alachua and Lev}^ or the route surveyed by General Gil- 
more from the St. Mary's river to St. Marks." 

Either one of these canals, when constructed, will be of great advan- 
tage to the State, and if either one be of such dimensions and depth as to 
admit the passage of large ships, then the whole civilized world will be in- 
terested in and accommodated by this shorter and safer and cheaper route 
of travel. The travel and freightage from San Francisco through the pro- 
posed ship canal at Panama, or over the ship railway contemplated through 
Tehaunteepec, would find the ship canal across the peninsular a passage of 
safety against the coral reefs and storms that are encountered in passing 
around Cape Florida. So the commerce of the Mississippi passing through 
this canal would avoid the same dangerous adventures, and would, more- 
over, shorten the distance to the Atlantic ports and to Europe by hundreds 
of miles. The importance and value of such a passage, even to foreign na- 
tions as well as to the American people, is clearly recognized. Through 
oflScials and well informed parties prepared to speak, the voice of England, 
Russia, Germany and France have been heard in favor of such a passage. 
As a further proof of the material importance of this route, it may be stated 
that a recent bill has been introduced in the Senate of the United States 
calling that body to a grave consideration of the interests involved, and to 
give proper aid to the construction of such a canal. 

By turning to the list of railwaj^s and canals in subsequent pages, and 
observing their courses, crossings and connections, it will be seen that they 
form a sort of net work all over the State, and that only a small portion of 
the territory of the State will be more than twenty miles from lines of 
transportation, either b}' rail or water. 

These facilities for transportation, for travel and commerce in Florida 
in the near future, are assurances of a prosperity highly encouragiug. All 
along down the path of the ages commercial facilities and wealth have ac- 
companied each other, and in modern times the rapid march of Europe on 
the line of progress, as compared with the more tardy steps of Asia, has 
been due mainly to her much larger proportion of coast line, its frequent 
indentations, its harbors and its coves, and its more numerous navigable 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



streams. These have given more numerous and convenient commercial 
facilities, and her gi'eater wealth and progress have been the result. Lon- 
don, the lai'gest city in the Old World, and Xew York, the largest in the 
New, sit beside the sea, where the world's commerje and wealth are con- 
veniently poured into the lap of each. Now, Florida is favored above most 
of her sisters in having all her territory convenient to the commerce of the 
ocean, and in the greater number and depth of her harbors, where her pro- 
ducts may be exchanged and the wealth of the commercial world received. 



CLIMATE. 



The conditions of the atmosphere in its degrees of temperature and 
moisture ai'e items which affect organized life, animal and vegetable. Since 
the temperature of the atmosphere falls, as distance from the equator in- 
creases, one degree of depression to qxqyj added degree of latitude, and 
since, moreover, the thermometer falls one degree for every 300 feet in alti- 
tude, Florida being so near the equator and so little above the sea level, 
might be thought from these premises to be very hot ; but there are other 
influences which must also be taken into the account to reach the truth. There 
are dozens of rivers and smaller streams coursing over the surface, then 
lakes in Florida are thicker than the stars in the skies ; and some of them 
very deep. The evaporation from these streams and lakes and from the 
Gulf hai'd by on the one side, and the Atlantic on the other, rapidl}' con- 
sumes or absorbs the heat of the sun just as water sprinkled upon the floor 
absorbs the heat of a room ; and this process is more rapid, because as the 
vapor rises and takes all the heat it can render insensible, the breezes from 
the Atlantic or Gulf bear it away and supply other atmosphere to be filled 
with other vapor, performing the same office in the cooling process ; conse- 
quentl}-, as a matter offact^ the thermometer in summer rises higher in New 
York, Boston and Montreal, than in St. Augustine, Tampa and Key Wes t. 
Sun-stroke, with its terrors, so frequent in the cities, and, indeed, in the 
country North, is never known in Florida. 

Another item to be taken into account when searching for the causes 
of higher temperature in summer of places north of Florida, is the fact 
that the days in summer are longer as we proceed northward, and the 
nights are shorter. There is, consequentl}', less time for throwing oflT or 
radiating the heat from the sun during the day until his return with new 
supplies. 

The rainy season in Florida is in the summer months, when the showers 
cool the atmosphere and refresh the crops. During these months the aver- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



age moisture is slightly greater than in the States further north. Observa- 
tion and experiment show, however, that the humidity of Florida in sum- 
mer is only LOT greater than that of Minnesota, while in the winter months 
— Florida's dry season — the moisture is less than in Minnesota by 1.08 de- 
grees. In demonstration of these statements as to the degree of humidity 
and heat, we append statistics that have already been before the public ; but 
truth does not grow old with years, and these statistics will meet the eyes 
of some readers for the first time. 

We extract from " Climatology of Florida,"' by Dr. C. J. Kenworthy, the 
following : '^ To place the subject of mean relative humidity in a clear and 
unmistakable light, we shall freely use the material furnished by the Signal 
Service reports, and not use data of private individuals, which are not 
alwaj's reliable. I will simply remark that when the atmosphere is satu- 
rated with moisture it is said to contain 100 per cent. ; when one half or 
one quarter saturated, 50 or 25 per cent., and when absolutely dry, 0." 



MEAN RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 















iO 


ta 






« 


« 




(« 




Pi (£ 


rt o£ 






W 


w 








9 K 


9 w 






n 


a 


p5 


< 


. 


f^ H 


^ H 






^ 


a 


<! 


P 


X 








« 


H 


a 


s 


pH 






< 


> 

o 




< 


K 
m 


< 


hS 




1^ 


^ 


a 


fe 


S 


s 


s 


1 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


per ct. 


Meutoiie & Cannes 3 


71.8 


74.2 


72.0 


70.7 


73.3 


72.4 




Nassau, N. P 1 


76.1 


72.0 


77.0 


72.5 


68.4 


73.2 




Atlantic City, N. J. 5 


76.9 


79.1 


80.6 


77.3 


76.8 


78.1 




Breckenridije.Miiin 5 


76.9 


83.2 


76.8 


81.8 


79.5 


79.6 


^ 


Duhith. Minn 5 


74.0 


72.1 


72.7 


73.3 


71.0 


72.6 


^ 74.5 


St. Paul, Minn.... is 


70.3 


73.5 


75.2 


70.7 


67.1 


71.3 


Punta Rasa. Fla. . . ! 5 


72.7 


73.2 


74.2 


73.7 


69.9 


72.7 


'i 


Key West. Fla. ... 5 


77.1 


78.7 


78.9 


77.2 


72.2 


76.8 


( 72 7 


Jacksonville, Fla. . 5 


71.9 


69.3 


70.2 


68.5 


63.9 


68.8 




Augusta. Ga .... 5 


71.8 


72.6 


73.0 


64.7 


62.8 


68.9 




Bismarck, Dak. ... 1 


76.6 


76,4 


77.4 


81.6 


70.6 


76.5 




Boston, Mass 1 1 


68.0 


61.8 


60.6 


68.2 


63.7 


65.6 





From the above table it will appear that, while at three points in Min- 
nesota the mean humidity for the five months of November, December, Jan- 
ary, February and March, is 74.5 per cent., for the same period at three 
points in Florida the mean is 72. V per cent. 

The same authority says : " If we take the entire year, for a period 
of five years, we will find but little diflference in the mean relative humidity 
of Minnesota and Florida, as the following data, kindly furnished us by the 
Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army, will demonstrate:" 



10 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 





Minnesota. 


Florida. 


Years. 


S 03 




a 

P- 

. 


'> 

c 

a: 

o 
cS 
Ha 


P-. 


4-> 

03 

03 


1875 

1876 

1877 


per ct. 

75.7 
67.7 
72.2 
76.2 
74.1 


per ct. 
67.2 

68.2 
71.9 

71.5 

72.8 


per ct. 
69.0 
69.1 
67.6 

67.7 
65.3 


per ct. 
70.3 
67.2 
69.3 

68.7 
69.7 


per ct. 
76.0 
73.9 
70.5 
72.4 
72.3 


per ct. 

71.5 
76.1 

74 1 


1878 

1879 


74.5 
74.2 


Mean for 5 years. 


73.2 


70.3 


67.7 


69.0 


73.3 


74.1 


Mean for 5 years for States. 




70.4 






72.0 





In a publication called The Florida Settler or Immigrants' Guide, pub- 
lished in 18t3 hy Hon. Dennis Eagan, then Commissioner of Lands and 
Immigration for Florida, we find the following table, taken from the Army 
Meteorological Record, which shows the yearly mean temperature for 
twenty years at three places in the State, and at two points north for a sim- 
ilar period, and from which the extreme equability of the climate of the 
State of Florida is very apparent : 



jJan. iFeb.lMar.jApr. 



St. Augugtine, Fla 57.03 

Tampa Bay 161.53 

Key West :66.68 

West Point, N. Y 128.28 

Fort Snellinff, Minu 113.76 



59.94i()3.34[68.78 
6.3.54 67.72in. 82 
86.88|72.88|75.38 
28.80 i 37.63 4.8.70 
17. 57 131.41 46.34 



May ]June|July [Aug.! Sept Oct. 



73.50 79.36 180.90 1 80.56 178. 60 71.88 
76.64 70.46 80 72 80.43 78.28 74.02 
79.10 81.63 83.00! 82.90l 81.92; 78.11 
59.82 68.41 73.751 71.83| 64.31 153.04 
58.97 ! 68.46 73.40 1 70.05 58.86 . 47.15 



Nov. 



64.12 
66.94 
74.66 
42.23 
31.67 



Dec. 



57.26 
61.99 
71.03 
31.98 
16.86 



Yr. 



69.61 
71.92 
76.51 
50.73 
44.54 



It will be seen from the above that the mean annual variation of the 
thermometer at Fort Snelling is 59.64 degrees, while at St. Augustine it is 
23.8t and at Key West only 16.32. 

The climate of the State resembles in equability the climate of Barba- 
does or Madeira, both of which places are held in high esteem by ph3^sicians 
as a resort for invalids. This is shown by the following comparison of tem- 
perature, taken at two points in Florida — Fort Dallas and Fort Myers — 
and at the places named : 



Spring-.. 
Summer 
Autumn 
Winter. . 
Yearly . . 



Barbadoes. 


Madeira. 


Ft. Dallas. 


Ft. Meyers 


Deg. 


Deg. 


Deq. 


Deg. 


79.2 


65.6 


74.7 


75.4 


78.5 


71.3 


81.5 


82.4 


82.1 


69.0 


76.3 


76.9 


78.5 


65.8 


66.6 


65.4 


79.. 1 


67.9 


74.8 


75.0 



Fort Dallas is situated at the mouth of the Miami river on Biscayue 
bay, a little below the twenty-sixth degree of latitude, and Fort Myers is 
on the Caloosahatchie, near the Gulf coast. The above statistics were 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



11 



kindly furnished to the department by the Hon. W. H. Gleasou, together 
with the following table, which shows the monthly mean at these points : 



Ft. 


Dallas. 


Ft. 


Meyers. 


Ft. Ballas. 


Ft 


Meyers 


Ft. Ballas. 


Ft 


Meyers 




Beg. 




Beg. 


Beg. 




Beg. 


Beg. 




Beq. 


January 


66.4 




63.4 


May 77.0 




80.1 


Sept. 79.6 




81.7 


Feb'ry 


66.6 




68.0 


June 80.5 




81.2 


Oct. 77.9 




77.7 


March 


70.4 




72.3 


July 82.1 




82.9 


Nov. 71.3 




71.5 


April 


75.6 




73.8 


Aug. 81.8 




83.1 


Dec. 66.8 




64.7 



The following table shows the monthly temperature and moisture for 
the year 187 1, taken at various points in the State : 



MARCH. 



Port Orange 
Jacksonville 
Palatka, 

Ocala 

Manatee 



St. Augustine 
Port Orange 
Jacksonville 

Palatka 

Ocala 

Manatee 
Orange Grove 
Newport 
Chattahoochee 



St. Augustine 22 

Port Oranw i 89 

Jacksonville 97. 

Palatka I 98. 

Ocala 

Manatee I 94 

Orange Grove 92. 

Newport 91. 

Chattahoochee 



St. Augustine 
Port Orange 
Jacksonville 

Palatka 

Orange Grove 

Newport 

Chattahoochee 



oi 


t 


3 


3 


•3 


s 


0) 

S 


9. 

E 


H 


^ 




c 


c 


C3 


^ 


1^ 

deg. 


deg. 


43. 


61.6 


38. 


61.2 


36. 


61.8 


28. 


62.1 


46. 


66.2 



5.40 
6.36 



JUNE. 




92. 


68. 


79.1 


3.10 


96. 


71. 


79.2 


8.10 


98. 


72. 


81.1 


7.8 


95. 


85. 


80.2 




92. 


74. 


83.5 


4.5 


90. 


71. 


80.5 


5.4 


92. 


69. 


77.8 


6.88 


95. 


66. 




8.5 



As will be seen from the foregoing table, the quantitj- of rain which 
falls in the State during three months of the year is veiy large. These 
months are July, August and September, and embrace entirely what is 



12 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

known as the " rainy season." Some years the rainfall is very slight, and 
is no more noticeable to a stranger than the rainfall in more northern lati- 
tudes. 

In connection with the subject of temperature, we feel authorized to 
say that in Florida, owing to her peninsular formation and proximity to the 
sea, the great proportion of inland water surface exposed to evaporation, to- 
gether with the almost never-ceasing air currents — sea breezes— her sum- 
mer climate is one of the most agreeable. 

As already noticed, the thermometer inses not quite so high in Florida 
during summer as further North, but this is not the whole advantage. The 
animal system is, in temperature, ordinarily above that of the atmosphere. 
The breezes are continually removing from contact with the body the par- 
tially-heated particles of atmosphere there and supplying cooler particles 
which more rapidly absorb the heat, and the cooling sensation is in propor- 
tion to tbe rapidit}?- of this process. So in the same way these breezes cool 
more rapidly the surface of the earth than if no breeze stirred. 

Such breezes are a constant and enduring feature of Florida's summer 
climate, occurring with almost unvarying daily regularitj', and must be ex- 
perienced to be appreciated. This feature is the secret of our cool nights. 
It is a generally recognized fact that there occur few nights in summer when 
covering of some description is not found desirable, and such close, swelter- 
ing temperatures as are sometimes met with at night in the interior of more 
northern States is so rare in Florida as to be scarcely remembered. 

This feature of our climate perhaps accounts for the total absence of 
sun-strokes among men and hydrophobia among dogs. 

It is this feature, too, that enables a man or beast to exert himself out 
in the direct rays of our semi-tropical sun throughout the long summer 
days "without distress or danger. This is a feature that has impressed many 
Northern settlers of late years with little less surprise than pleasure. 

The much-talked-of "frost line," we are constrained to say, does not 
exist in Florida. Frosts occur throughout the State, except, perhaps, in 
the southern parts of Monroe and Dade. In the northern tier of counties 
it is frequent and often scA^ere, and occurs with less frequency and severity 
as we go south, until the lower portion of Dade and Munroe counties 
is reached, where the prevailing trade winds are said to prevent the occur- 
rence of frost. During a residence of fourteen winters on the south side of 
the Manatee river the writer cannot recall a winter when a light frost did 
not occur there, though some winters not severe enough to aflfect tender 
tropical plants ; nor indeed of a character, ordinarily., to injure vegetation 
seriously, but sufficiently to make its effects discernible upon tender tropical 
growth. 

It is true, and very properly to be noted here, that at irregular inter- 
vals of eight, ten or more years, Florida has been subjected to the influenee 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 13 

of cold waves, destructive to tropical vegetation over much the greater part 
of her territory. In 1835 the orange trees were killed over the larger por- 
tion of the State. Several times since that period the orange trees in the 
northern counties have been either killed to the ground or badly damaged. 
In 1868 there was ice as far south as the Manatee river, and the guava 
tree* were killed to the ground, or rather most of them, as well as mo«t 
other tender tropical plants. These currents of arctic air seem tt> come in 
belts, and the coldest weather in the southern counties has not been always 
simultaneous with the severest cold in sections of the northern counties. 
On the 31st of December, 1880, when the last "cold snap " of this char- 
acter occurred, the mercury fell in Tallahassee, for a few hours only, how- 
ever, to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and was very injurious to the orange trees 
in that section. The thermometer at Manatee was but little, if any, below 
the average of the coldest winter weather there. 

The absence in Florida of periods of prolonged and severe drought, anala- 
gous to such seasons as sometimes prevail in more interior parts of the con- 
tinent, is perhaps owing to her proximity to the influence of the Gulf 
Stream. Certain it is, however, and properly to be noted, as responsive to 
the extensive inquiry heretofore made upon that head from the people of 
the Western States, that we have never known in Florida any such seasons 
of severe dryness as are experienced in the Northwest; and rarely, if ever, 
in the history of agriculture in this State, has such a drought prevailed a* 
seriously to impede the abundant production of the usual crops. 

THE HEALTHFULNESS OF FLORIDA 

is attested by reports of army officers who kept, for years, and made statis- 
tical reports on the subject from various military stations in the State. As 
some of my predecessors in the office of Commissioner have done, I quote 
from the reports of Surgeon-General Lawson, of the United States Army, 
who says : " Indeed the statistics of this bureau show that the diseases 
which result from malaria are of a much milder type iu Florida than in other 
States in the Union ; and the number of deaths there to the number of cases 
of remittent fever has been much less than among the troops serving in 
other portions of the United States. In the Middle Division " (meaning 
Military Division of the United States) ''the proporion is one death to 36 
cases of remittent fever. In the Northern 1 to 52. In the Southern 1 to 
54. In Florida it is but one to 28T." * * " From the carefully col- 
lected statistics of this office it appears that the annual rate of mortality of 
the whole peninsular of Florida is 2.06 per centum, while in other portions 
of the United States it is 3.03 per centum. Indeed, it may be asserted, with- 
out fear of refutation, that Florida possesses a more agreeable and salu- 
brious climate than any other State or Territory in the Union." 

Prominent amono- the causes of Florida's superior healthfulness is its 



14 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

long, narrow figure, north and south, in its peninsular portion, and in its 
proximity to the Gulf in the narrow strip of it stretching westward along 
the coast. This peculiarity of shape exposes it to the breezes, which re- 
move most of the resulting malaria or other atmospheric poison. 

The larger portion of the surface is covered with pine forests, whose 
tall trees, with branches near the tops only, give to the winds but little ob- 
struction, especially near the surface, while these trees perfume them with 
a resinous exhalation, healthful in its influence. 

Moreover, scientific tests have demonstrated that ozone, that peculiar 
modification of oxygen, which gives to it its purifying properties, exists 
more abundantly in the atmosphere of the ocean and along the coast than 
in the atmosphere of places further inland, and no one of the American 
States has so much coast line as Florida, unless, perhaps, California. 

Some learned medical men hold that the turpentine exhaled from the 
pine forest possesses, in a larger degeee than all other substances, the prop- 
erty of converting the oxygen of the atmosphere into ozone. (See pro- 
ceedings of Medical Association of Florida for 188J, page 71.) 

Dr. Chas. H. Lee, editor of Copeland's Medical Dictionary, as quoted 
in the authority referred to, says : " Mildness and equability are the two 
distinguishing characteristics of the climate of the Florida peninsula." 

The mortuary statistics of Florida, reported to the Census Bureau for 
a number of decades, represent her as among the most healthful States of 
the Union. 

In the correspondence of this office we are sometimes inquired of as to 
the liability to yellow fever in Florida. This epidemic has been brought to 
our seaports occasionally, and sometimes, tor want of proper sanitary regu- 
lations, has found a temporary lodgment. But the interior of the country 
is not more liable to this malady than places inland of the States further 
North. Indeed, both the cities of the Atlantic coast and on the waters of 
the Mississippi, have suffered more from this terrible epidemic than have 
an}- localities in Florida. 



THE SOIL OF FLORIDA 

Is exceedingly diversified, and in its varied character is suited not only to 
the crops of the other States generally, but because of its near approach to 
a tropical clime, to some products not grown elsewhere in the States. 

The soil is generally classed as first, second and third rate pine lands, 
and as high and low hammock and swamp lands. The pine lands cover 
much the larger portion of the State, and the traveler in the trains, or over 
the highways through them, is not apt to be impressed in such casual in- 
spection with their real worth. 

The white sand on the immediate surface is taken as conclusive testi- 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 15 



mony against them ; but that is not all sand which, in the careless glance, 
appears to be. In a large portion of the State this sand is mixed with 
finely comminuted bits of shells or carbonate of lime. Even the third-class 
of pine lands produce abundantly the saw palmetto, and this plant is rich 
in potash, one of the most important elements of plant food, and generally 
furnished by nature to the various soils with a very rigid economy. One 
of the marks of the third-class pine lands is the black-jack growth upon the 
more elevated spots, and the ash of the black-jack, like the ash of the pal- 
metto root, makes fine soap, showing both of these plants to be rich in 
potash ; and this mineral is not derived through the leaves from the atmos- 
phere, but through the roots from the soil. Even this poorest soil is not 
worthless. It does more than fill what would otherwise be an inconvenient 
chasm in the earth's surface. It furnishes more or less of pasturage, both 
upon the black-jack elevations and the " gallberry flats." Cattle feed fre- 
quently upon the palmetto leaves, and hogs are very fond of the tender 
buds in the spring time, and fatten upon the berries in the season for their 
ripening. Then the spreading leaves are converted into cheap and con- 
venient fans for cooling the face, and are now being converted into paper of 
the first quality. 

During the last session of the Legislature there were specimens of this 
paper shown to members of the body, which were impervious to water, and 
a vessel made of it, containing some liquid, was on exhibition by a gentle- 
man representing the company- engaged in its manufacture. The fibre of 
the palmetto leaf is being converted also into brushes, mattresses and other 
household conveniences. Factories for thus utilizing the palmetto upon a 
large scale are about being erected in several places. The root of the pal- 
metto, when finely broken or ground up, is said to furnish fine material for 
tanning leather, because of the amount of tanic acid in the root. This 
seeming digression is still a plea for our poorest lands. 

Of tillable plants the sisal hemp and the pine-apple are both air plants 
in a large degree, and do well with little tillage on very poor soil. Lei big, 
the German Agricultural Chemist, saj^s that the poorest soils, even the 
Luneburg heath of his country, contain enough of mineral plant food for 
centuries of profitable tillage, but that it is " locked up" in such chemical 
combination as to render it inaccessible to plants, except in a very slight 
degree. The plant has a power, which the chemists call catalysis, by which 
it disintegrates and dissolves the minerals containing plant food, when the^^ 
are in contact with or near the roots. The temperature of the atmosphere 
and the soil have something to do with aiding or retarding this vital power 
of the plant to supply itself with needed nourishment. When soil and 
plant roots are frozen this catalytic power of the plant is suspended, thus 
in colder climes, where for months the surface and its contents are locked 
up in ice, in Florida this disintegration and dissolution of the minerals by 



16 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

the forces of the plant are continued -w^ithout any such suspension. All the 
year round the plant has the key to this chest of supplies ; therefore, with 
a soil of the yery same constituents the plant will have access to the larger 
supply of food, taking the year round, in the warmer clime. 

In the gallberry flats, while the pine trees are not so tall as on the bet- 
ter lands, nor so well suited for lumber, they have more sap-wood, and are 
better suited for supplying turpentine and resin ; and the collection and 
preservation of theee articles is a paying and a growing industry in Florida. 

Turpentine and resin are appreciating in value, as the sources of supply 
are becoming narrowed, and the commercial demand continually enlarging. 

SECOND-CLASS PINE LANDS. 

The second-class pine lands, which have been adjudged by competent 
authority to be in the largest proportion, are all productive. They are not 
hilly, but for the most part undulating in their surface. In some places, 
however, these elevations amount to hills. Some of the sand hills in Her- 
nando county are regarded among the highest points in the State. Under- 
lying the surface is clay, marl, lime rock and sand. These lands, from their 
accessibility and productiveness, the facility of fertilizing with cattle, and 
the impression of their healthfulness above hammock lands, have induced 
their enclosure and tillage, when the richer hammock lands were hard by, 
but more difficult to prepare for cultivation. 

Some of these lands have no regular compact clay under them, or, at 
least, not in reach of plant roots. This fact is taken frequently as an evi- 
dence against them, since the popular prejudice is decidedly in favor of a 
clay sub-soil. This objection, if it really be one, is taken for more than it 
is worth, for clay proper, or alluminum, as the chemists call it, is not food 
for plants. Its uses to the plant are mechanical. It serves to hold firmly 
the roots of the enlarging trunk, but not to subsist the hungry or thirsty 
plant. Sometimes it has been found in small quantities in the ash of woods, 
but this is because the rootlets take up more or less of whatever is in solu- 
tion about them, and clay has been taken up in this way just as poisons 
may be taken up ; for trees are sometimes killed by pouring poisonous 
liquids about their roots, but clay never makes any part of the organism 
of the plant, nor is it numbered among the elements which contribute to 
their growth. 

Another notion as to the value of a clay sub-soil is, that without its 
presence the applied fertilizers will leach through and be lost. The fer- 
tilizers used are generally lighter than the soils to which they are applied, 
or than the water coming down from the clouds. As the rains fall some of 
these fertilizers are carried down, after a time of drought ; as the soil fills 
they are borne upward again by the waters to the surface, and both as they 
go down and come up, whether they be liquid or gaseous, the humus of 



Florida — Ita Climate^ Soil and Productions. It 



soils has a strong absorbing affinity for them and readily- appropriates and 
retains them for the uses of the phint, when the superabundance of water 
has passed awaj-. But if the soil is not filled to the surface, so as to bring 
back directly any fertilizer in solution that was carried down, it is safer 
there in the sub-soil than on the steep hillsides of cla_y, where what is ap- 
plied is frequently carried away into tlie floods, together with the soil, to 
the vales below. Whereas what has gone down in the porus soil is brought 
up by the capillary attraction of the surface soil, in time of drought, to the 
reach of the growing crop. One of the uses of drought is, that it thus 
brings up from the sub-soil an}- mineral food that may be there, to where it 
will be in reach of the growing crop. 

But light, sandy soils, though they may produce freely at first, soon 
give way, and this fact, for frequently it is a fact, is regarded as conclusive 
as against loose and porus sub-soils, whereas it only proves that these light 
soils were not suflflciently supplied with humus, and the limited supply soon 
exhausted. 

Some of the best and most enduring soils of Florida have a chocolate- 
colored, loose, porus sub-soil. The very tenacity and closeness which it 
is claimed prevents the applied fertilizer from sinking will of course be 
equally in the way of fertilizing matter rising, in the time of dought, from 
the sub-soil. 

FIRST-CLASS PINE LANDS. 

Of the first-class pine lands Mr. J. S. Adams, Commissioner of Immi- 
gration, in his publication of 1869, sa^'s : " It has nothing analagous to it 
in an}' of the other States. Its surface is covered for several inches with a 
dark vegetable mold, beneath which, to the depth of several feet, is a choco- 
late sand loam, mixed for the most part with limestone pebbles, and resting 
on a substratum of marl, clay or limestone rock. The fertility and dura- 
bility of this description of land ma}^ be estimated from the well-known 
fact that it has on the upper Suwannee, and several other districts, ^uelded, 
during fourteen years of successive cultivation, without the aid of manure, 
400 pounds of Sea Island cotton to the acre, the lands are as productive as 
ever, so that the limit of their durability is still unknown." 

HIGH HAMMOCK LANDS. 

In reference to these lands also, we again quote from the pamphlet of 
Mr. Adams : " There is one feature in the topography of Florida which no 
other countr}' in the United States possesses, and which aftbrds a great se- 
curity to the health of its inhabitants, it is that tlie pine lands which form 
the basis of the country, aud which are almost universally health}', are 
nearh' everywhere studded at intervals of a few miles with the rich ham- 
mock land. These hammocks are not, as is generally supposed, low, wet 
lands, they do not require ditching or draining. They vary in extent 
2 



18 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



from twenty acres to fort}' thousand acres. Hence the inhabitants have 
it in their power to select residences in the pine lands, at such conven- 
ient distances from the hammock as will enable them to cultivate the latter 
without endangering- their health, if it should so happen that any of the 
inhabitants prove to be less healthy than in the pine lands. Experience 
has shown that residences only half a mile distant from cultivated ham- 
mocks are exempt from malarial diseases, and the negroes who cultivate 
and retire at night to pine land residences maintain their health. Indeed, 
it is found that residences in the hammocks are generally healthy after they 
have been a few years cleared. This class of lands, under favorable cir- 
cumstances, have produced as much as three hogsheads of sugar per acre." 

These hammocks, high and low, are generally admixed with lime, and 
the streams running through them ai-e impregnated with it, more or less. 

The low Hammocks are less elevated and less undulating, and gener- 
ally require ditching to relieve them of a superabundance of water, espe- 
cially during the rainy season. They have a deeper soil and are generally 
reo'arded as more lasting than the high hammock. They are especially 
fitted for the growth of the sugar-cane, which is not so much affected by 
either dry weather or flood as most other crops. Sometimes in its growth the 
surface about it is covered with water for weeks, without seeming seriously 
to injure it, and then requiring a longer period for maturing than most of 
our field crops, it has in the autumn, when the I'ainy season is over, a 
mild and dry period, when it grows fastest, which is best adapted to the 

maturing of its juices. 

SWAMP LANDS 

are esteemed the most durably rich lands in Florida. They occupy de- 
pressed places, where they receive the drift from places more elevated. 
They are of more recent formation than the high hammocks, or even the 
pine lands, which are a formation subsequent to the hammocks. They are 
alluvial and still receiving deposits from the higher grounds. Some of 
what is called the Everglades, in the counties of Monroe and Dade, is soil 
of this character. These lands will be, in a large de2:ree, reclaimed by the 
canal now in process of construction for that purpose, and for providing 
transportation for the world's commerce with that section. A portion of 
these p]verglades will, without question, turn out to be very poor, but 
among them and in other portions of the State, there is estimated to be 
more than 1,000,000 acres of swamp land not yet appropriated to agricultu- 
ral purposes. In several instances, and in different localities, this class of 
land has produced four hogsheads of sugar to the acre. Some suppose 
that eventually as much sugar will be raised in Florida as would supply 
the present demand of the United States with that article. 

Some of the counties of Middle Florida, Gradsden, Leon, Madison 
and Jefferson, and Jackson county, of West Florida, have large areas of 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. W 

fine high hammock land, underlaid with a stiff clay. These are the best 
lands of the State for the growth of the short staple cotton, and are indeed 
the cream of the State for general farming purposes. They are of the ear- 
liest formation of the Florida lands. 

lu East Florida, the counties of Alachua, Levy, Marion, Hernando and 
Sumter have most hammock lands. 

Most of the swamp lands (proper) are in South Florida. 

One peculiarity of the Florida soil is its easier culture than the stiffer 
soils. Another is that most of the farm labor and tillage can be performed 
in those months of the year when the grounds are frozen further north. 
Another peculiarity is that the fertilizers are applied with better effect, 
both because the. applications are not carried away by the rains, as fre- 
quently they are in hillier regions, and because the more porous soil lets 
in the atmosphere more readily to aid the fertilizers in the work of decom- 
posing the minerals of the soil, and setting free the food elements they 
contain for the use of the crops grown. 



STAPLE COMMODITIES. 

The staple commodities of Florida for markets outside the State are 
enlarging in number. The long and short staple cotton, corn, rye, oats, 
rice, sugar, syrup, tobacco, vegetables of almost every variety, and fruits, 
tropical and semi-tropical, as well as most of those grown in temperate 
zones, fish, sponge, lumber, turpentine, resin, &c., are the most prominent. 
The cereals grown in the United States generally do well also in Florida, 
with the exception, perhaps of wheat, which is supposed to be more subject 
to rust in Florida than further north. For the want of proper mills for 
converting the grain into flour, but few experiments have been made in 
wheat ; but as it grows well in Egypt climate cannot be the difficulty. 

In the census of 1880 the average of the corn crop of the State of Geor- 
gia per acre is put down at 9.2 bushels ; South Carolina at 9.3 bushels, and 
Florida at 9.4 bushels. Florida, therefore, is not entirely in the rear. The 
average per acre of the oat crop in Alabama is put down at 9.2 bushels, and 
P'lorida at 9.4 bushels. 

That she is behind any of the States may not be the want of proper soil 
and climate, but some other causes for which there may be a ready remedy. 
The fact that ex-Governor George F. Drew, in Madison county, Florida, 
produced 135 bushels of corn to the acre settles the question that there is 
a remedy for the shortness of our corn crops hitherto. We liave been reli- 
ably informed by Mr. John A. Pearce, of Leon county, that his corn crop 
for the present year (1882) will average 40 bushels per acre, and that, too, 



20 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



without one particle of fertilizer having been applied to his fields. Either 
from the effects of climate and soil in favor of this cereal, or from the vari- 
et}^ in use, or possibly from l)oth causes, corn here is above the average 
weight, standard weight being 56 pounds per bushel, while Florida corn is 
frequently over 60 pounds. 

A larger area in Florida is suited to the growth of Sea Island cotton 
than in any other one of the States. Indeed, about half the whole Ameri- 
can supply is raised in this State. 

At tlie Atlanta Exposition a bag of long-staple cotton, from Levy 
county, Florida, took the first premium. 

As this staple brings double, and sometimes treble the price of the 
short staple, the localities best suited to its growth will be turned to its 
production. 

The small grain cereals generally have been found to do well in Flor- 
ida as far as they have been tried. Rice does finely, even on the poor pine 
lands when sufficiently fertilized. After cow-penning the grounds 60 bush- 
els per acre have been produced. The reclaimed swamp lands will be emi- 
nently fitted for its production. While this grain feeds a majority of the 
world's people, the straw is excellent fox'age for horses and cattle. But the 
sugar-cane will, perhaps, be the larger crop on the richer lands, whether 
swamp, low hammock or high. The world's demand for the product of the 
cane is enlarging, the price is enhancing, and no substitute has yet been 
found that will adequately supply its place. Another incentive to its pro- 
duction is the improved machinery brought into use in the last few years 
for converting its juice into sugar and syrup, and purifying its granulations 
up to the highest grades. 

Jute is now meeting with experiment in this climate, and with every 
prospect of success. This is the proper soil and climate for it. Its growth 
will diversify our crops, and the manufacture of its fibre here will diversif}^ our 
labor, and diversity of labor is one of the great wants of the South. There 
will be a home demand for the manufactured article. This will save ex- 
pense of freightage from abroad and import duties upon arrival. 

Another plant producing textile fibre is the Sisal hemp. This plant 
was introduced into Florida while yet a Territory, from Yucatan, by one 
Dr. Perrine, who engaged with the United States Government to introduce 
and grow tropical plants, in consideration of a township of land south of 
the 26th degree of north latitude. His enterprise, for some cause, failed, 
and|the'grant failed with it ; but some of the plants he introduced found 
in the locality a genial home, and live on, without attention and tillage. 

In my enclosure at Manatee this one — Sisal hemp — has been somewhat 
troublesome. It feeds so largely upon the atmosphere as to be almost in- 
dependent q4 the soil. This character of the plant will encourage its til- 

U 



Florida — Its Climate., Soil and Productions. 21 

lage, even upon the very pooi'est lauds. Properly cared for it will yield a 
remunerative crop, and, like the jute, the article grown and manufactured 
here will find an extensive home demand. 



TROPICAL AND SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS. 

The Pine-apple is also largely an air plant, and in a suitable climate 
will do well, even in a poor soil. Very fine pine-apples have been grown 
as far north as Tampa, about 28 degrees north latitude, and will do well up 
to 29 degrees. On the islands between Key West and the mainland it is a 
staple crop, as also in Dade county. Indeed, it may and will be grown 
profitably anywhere south of 29 degrees north. It is only awaiting con- 
venient transportation. 

The Cocoa-nut just at present is attracting great attention. There is a 
" boom " in its production in the counties of Monroe and Dade. The Key 
West Democrat., of April 1st, 1882, gives a list of names of persons re- 
centl}^ engaged in the business. These gentlemen are planting on the keys 
of Monroe county. There are trees in px'osperous and prolific bearing at 
Fort Mj^ers, near the northern boundary of Monroe county. With a little 
protection to the plant for the fii'st several years during the coldest nights 
it will do well as far north as the Manatee river. 

The Date-palm, from which is obtained the date of commerce, is a 
somewhat hardier plant than the cocoa-nut, and will do well, therefore, 
something further north. Date trees, and very old ones, are bearing at St. 
Augustine, and in Franklin county, at Apalachicola. As yet this fruit has not 
attracted much attention as an investment, as about twenty years are gen- 
erally required to obtain fruit from the seed. 

The Guava, a tree in its size and shape and manner of growth not un- 
like the peach tree, does about as well in the southern coimties of Florida as 
it can anywhere. From its fruit is made the guava jelly of commerce, so 
widely and so favorably known over the world. The taste for the fruit, 
like the taste for most tropical fruits, is an acquired one, but wlien ac(iuired 
is fully endorsed. Some persons like the fruit upon first tasting it, but 
the majority require frequent tasting before the flavor becomes decidedly 
agreeable. The full crop ripens in August and September, but the trees 
have blossoms and fruit all the year, and all the year the fruit is ripening. 
They grow with less attention than the peach, and sometimes bear the sec- 
ond year from the seed. The fruit is ordinarily about the size of the peach, 
and fully as varied in size and quality. So far experience has demonstrated 
no other means of utilizing this fruit for market than by canning, or as 



22 Florida — Its Climate,, Soil and Productions. 



jelly or marmalade. As to its exact profitableness, even in one of these 
forms, we have no very reliable data. 

The " Sugar-apple," in local nomenclature, the Spaniards put at or 
near the head of the fruit list for its excellency. In its flavor it is one of 
the most concentrated sweets known among fruits, but the first taste has a 
smack of something repulsive, soon lost in a few repetitions, and then the 
acquired taste is very agreeable. It grows upon a shrub but little, if any, 
larger than the pomegranate, and in size and shape is somewhat like the 
pine cone. It decays too soon after ripening for transportation, and as yet 
has established a use only at home. It thrives as far north as Tampa. 

The Pomegranate, several varieties of sweet and sour, grows finely in 
every part of the State. It is not a marketable product, but when properly 
prepared makes a most delightful sub-acid summer driflk — is a decided feb- 
rifuge much in vogue. The tree with its rich foliage and brilliant coral-like 
flowers is highly ornamental. 

The Coffee-plant has attained maturity in the open air in but one 
county in the State, or even the United States. It sometimes attains a 
height of ten or twelve feet. Mrs. Atzeroth, of Manatee county, has sent 
several pounds of the matured grain to Washington City, and received a 
premium for the same. She is engaged mainly, however, in raising the 
plants for sale. Whether it can be grown profitably on a large scale, and 
will figure among the available crops of Florida, is yet to be tested. 

The Mango is another tropical fruit of high flavor, and is now bearing 
abundantly as far north as the 28th degree of north latitude. In size and 
shape it somewhat resembles a pear, and in flavor has been likened to the 
apricot. This is a marketable fruit - finds ready sale in Texas and Louis- 
iana markets. Dr. Kellum, on the Caloosahatchie river, proposes to engage 
in growing this fruit extensively, and thinks that within a certain market 
limit it will prove quite as profitable as oranges. 

The Sappadillo, (after a little familiarity with it,) is a very lucious 
and desirable fruit. The tree attains about the dimensions of the orange, 
but will not stand the cold quite so well. A few trees are growing as far 
north as the Manatee river. They are not yet in bearing, but as they 
grow finely promise well. 

The Alligator Pear, or Lourus Persea (Linnseus,) is a tree somewhat 
larger than the orange, resembling in the general appearance of its foliage 
and growth the magnolia. The fruit, when matured, is about the shape and 
color (the only similarities) of the pear, is palatable, flavor peculiar to itself. 
Preferred by many to an}^ other tropical fruit. Is marketable, bears trans- 
portation quite as well as the orange. Attains perfection as far north as 29 
degrees north latitude. As yet has attracted little attention. In 1868 



\ Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 23 

some of the trees in Tampa were killed to the ground, but have been equal 
to the coldest weather since. 

The Orange can be more extensivel}' and profitably grown in Florida 
than in any other State of the Union. Louisiana, Texas and California will 
in time compete with us in the production of this popular fruit, but from 
advantages we enjoy in certain peculiarities of climate, soil and seasons, it 
is more than likelj^ that Florida will ever retain a superiority over any 
other section of the country in its production. 

The history of orange-growing in Florida as an industry is very recent. 
True it is that our primeval forests abound, in some localities, in native wild 
groves. With the first settlement of St. Augustine by the Spaniards it is 
probable that the orange was planted and cultivated with success. During 
the period of American occupation, from tlie cession in 1819-21 up to the 
close of the civil war in 1865, man}' Floridians had planted and matured 
extensive groves, prominent among which was the renowned Dummit Grove 
on Indian river, together with others of less size at St. Augustine and at 
several points along the St. Johns river and at Tampa bay. Still these 
ante-bellum groves were merely among the embellishments of home sur- 
roundings with a few wealthy proprietors, as fish ponds or other orna- 
mental features sometimes are upon the premises of Northern men of 
wealth ; but nowhere in Florida was orange-growing regarded as a busi- 
ness to be pursued solely for profit. 

After the late war the winter climate of Florida was sought by hun- 
dreds of Northern people in pursuit of health. The beaut}' of the rich 
golden fruit, amid its dark, green foliage, attracted the eye, and, as many 
of these visitors bought and improved homes along the banks of the St. 
Johns and other accessible points, they began the propagation of the or- 
ange. Gradually the facilities for its culture and the wonderful profitable- 
ness of the business became apparent, and induced investments in small 
tracts for the purpose. Year after 'year, as at various points additional 
trees and young plantings came into bearing, the great superiority of the 
Florida fruit over any other made itself felt in the Nortli. The demand for 
" Florida Oranges " began to grow, prices advanced, improved methods of 
propagating by budding, pruning and fertilizing obtained ; year by year 
the demand and supply continued to increase. Soon choice locations 
adapted to the culture of tlie fruit began enhancing in value — lots that for 
fifty years had remained vacant at $1.25 per acre were found to command 
and readily bring |50 to $100 per acre. And so the enormous profitable- 
ness of this industry became noised abroad, and the '^ Orange l-ever " was 
fairly established, and not without good cause; for, liowever extravagantly 
the subject has in many instances been treated by some writers, not always 
without selfish purposes in inducing sale and settlement of lands, there is 



24 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

no shadow of doubt as to the reall}' sure and safe ground for the invest- 
ment of untold thousands of dollars in making orange groves. 

One thousand dollars per acre per annum has time and again been real- 
ized from this business. Indeed, double that amount per acre has been fre- 
quently made ; and with proper culture and fertilization, where the latter 
is needed, $1,000 per acre is an available crop. Like all excellent things, 
orange culture has many and serious obstacles to its successful accomplish- 
ment. Being a new business there is not a vast amount of experience to 
govern and direct the beginner. Almost as many different theories exist 
as to the most approved methods of culture as there are men engaged in it. 

The natural enemies of the tree and fruit are numerous, and not very 
well understood. An entomologist recently sent from the Bureau at Wash- 
ington reports having discovered no less than 35 different insects that are in 
a greater or le.ss degree damaging to the orange. Judicious selection of 
locality as well as location for groves are most important matters. The 
selection of stocks, buds, seeds, and the best methods of planting, protect- 
ing and cultivating, are all material factors of success. Frosts, droughts, 
gales and other casualties are to be considered, and time is largely of the 
essence of the undertaking. We believe, from experience thus far, that on 
an average it requires twelve or fifteen years to make an orange grove very 
profitable from the time of planting. True it is that in some, perhaps many 
instances, where the environment were in all respects most favorable, much 
better results have been obtained. 

While Commissioner of Immigration the writer has had numerous in- 
quiries made of him from all parts of the country as to the advisability of 
'"'' jjoor men " coming to Florida for the purpose of engaging in orange-cul- 
ture. He is frequently asked : " How much capital is required to enable a 
man to ensage in s^'owino- oranges?'' "Can a man with very moderate 
means put out an orange grove and make a support off the land while the 
trees are growing?" &c. These, like many others of analagous character, 
are very pertinent inquiries, but quite beyond most persons' capacity to an- 
swer. The amount of capital required depends, of course, on the extent to 
which the enterprise is pursued. The cost of land, trees, labor and support 
are all involved, and these vary as to localities and what might be thought 
a support b}' different people. 

It has been customary heretofore by writers on this subject to submit 
estimates of the cost of these several items, appended to which frequently 
occurs such an entry as " value of 5 acres in bearing trees at 7 years old, 

$ ," &c. We will attempt no such table. We have been quite unable 

to reconcile the great discrepancies of experimenters in their estimates of 
bringing a grove into bearing; too much so, at any rate, to be able to digest 
therefrom reliable data for the guidance of others. 



Florida — Its Climate .^ Soil and Froductions. 25 

We believe, however, that oi'ange growing, while it of course can be en- 
gaged in at a decided advantage by those who have means to conduct it on 
a cash basis, and be independent of support until such time as the grove is 
an assured success, does not, nevertheless, present any insurmountable fea- 
tures to "poor men" — by which term we mean, in this instance, men with- 
out ready money and dependent upon their own labor for a support. In- 
deed, in the knowledge of the writer, many of the most successful and to- 
day independent orange proprietors in Florida began the business with no 
other capital than their own labor. 

But for fear of misleading minds prone to overlooking the details when 
so dazzling a prospect is offered them of converting in a few j^ears acres of 
$1.25 land into bonanzas yielding princely incomes, we caution them that 
there is a long, hungry gap between raw pine woods and groves of bearing 
orange trees. It takes many hard licks, plenty of pluck, assured health, 
good luck and favorable auspices. To all of which a large family, bad 
health, indolence, inexperience or accident are possible drawbacks. 

It has been urged that the profits of orange growing would directly 
attract so many to the business as to overstock the market and break it 
down, but a little reflection will dissipate such fears. Apples sell as readil}' 
now, and at as good prices, as the}' did fort}' years ago, and yet there are 
millions of acres suitable to growing apples where there are hundreds suit- 
able to growing oranges, and there are millions of apples now on the market 
where there used to be one. If the apple market cannot be so overstocked 
as to break it down, much less can the market for oranges. The consump- 
tion of the orange within the United States is put down at GOO, 000, 000 per 
annum. A little above 50,000,000 of that supply is furnished at home; the 
remainder, as shown at the custom-houses, is made up of receipts from 
abroad. We furnish about one-twelfth of the supply, while foreign sources 
furnish the other eleven-twelfths. The ease b}' which we can effectually 
occupy the market when our supply is sufficiently enlarged is shown in the 
fact that the foreign fruit is frequently sold in the market as " Florida " 
fruit to procure for it a more ready sale. Ours is of a better quality and 
richer flavor, and the foreign article finds a market among us only because 
the home supply- fails to meet the demand. And this demand is increasing 
almost as rapidly as orange trees in Florida are multiplying. 

The natural increase of American population, that is the number of 
births over the number of deaths, is only about one-third of the real in- 
crease. More than half a million peeple from foreign lands will arrive upon 
our shores during the present year with the intention of permanent resi- 
dence among us. Then ever}- railroad in the other American States, as 
well as every railroad and canal added in Florida, increases the facility and 
lessens the cost of putting this tropical fruit at every man's door. 



Yield in 




ISSO. 


Value. 


2,250,000 


$33,750 00 


9.450 


14175 


338,850 


4,815 50 


1,250,000 


18,750 00 


282,400 


4,170 50 


165,700 


2,522 25 


157,850 


2,741 00 


500,000 


7,500 00 


3,000,000 


45,000 00 


10,000 





26 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

The following statistics, obtained from the Census Bulletin of 1880, 

will give some idea of the state of the orange business in Florida at that 

date : 

j^umc of No. Bearing 

County. Trees. 

Alachua 13, 111 

Baker 21 

Bradford 3,377 

Brevard 10,884 

Calhoun 841 

Clay 738 

Columbia 436 

Dade 500 

Duval 10, 131 

Escambia 11 

Franklin 

Gadsden 

Hamilton 

Hernando 7,685 52,000,000 37,500 00 

Hillsboro 18,683 4,409,150 45,410 35 

Holmes 

Jackson 1,000 3,500 00 

Jefterson 

Lafayette 1,157 43.800 662 00 

Leon 2.500 750.000 11,250 00 

Levy 460 500,000 7,500 00 

Liberty 

Madison 594 512,900 7,685 00 

Manatee 17,291 2,000,000 30,000 00 

Marion 46.195 6,000,000 90,000 00 

Monroe 500 500,000 ' 7.500 00 

Nassau 

Oranire 29,049 4,000,000 60,000 00 

Polk 2.283 1,500.000 22,500 00 

Putnam 64,170 7,120,631 108,414 80 

Santa Rosa 

St. Johns 12.006 2,000,000 30,000 00 

Sumter 13,029 2,250.000 33,750 00 

Suwannee 157 120,700 2.060 00 

Taylor 1.846 255.200 2,747 50 

Volusia 24,638 4,000,00 60,000 00 

Wakulla 83 70,493 

Walton 

AVashington 

Supplement 11.536 457,225 7.056 10 



Total 292.324 46,097,856 $672,176 65 

From want of reports from several of the counties in the abOA'^e list, 
they are made to appear as non-productive of oranges. This we feel au- 
thorized to correct. There is not a county in Plorida where bearing orange 
trees are not to be found ; and in Franklin and Liberty, two of the counties 
not reported in the above list, orange growing is quite an industry. Some 
ver}' handsome and valuable groves are to be seen on the banks of the Apa- 
lachicola. 

Other members of the citrus family, viz : The lemon, lime, citron, grape 
fruit and shaddock can be successfully grown in at least a large portion of 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 2t 

the State. The lime and lemon will be about as widely used as the orange, 
though not so abundantly, and as not a tithing of so many are engaged in 
growing them, they will, perhaps, be about as profitable. 

The Grape-fruit is onl}^ a larger and coarser variety of the orange. 
The shaddock is a yet larger fruit — measuring some ten or twelve inches in 
diameter. 

The Citron is a healthy, vigorous grower and prolific bearer, though 
less hardy than the lemon or orange. By a process, as yet not understood 
in Florida, from this fruit is prepared, in the East, the Citron of com- 
merce ; which art, when acquired here, will develop only another source of 
industry and revenue to the State. 

The Banana is one of the most popular of tropical productions. It is 
generally relished from the first, but even this fruit requires a little prac- 
tice to develop in full a palatable sense of its richness and delicacy. More- 
over it belongs to the famih^ — the plantain, which is claimed to be the rich- 
est of all the fruits in nutritious matter. It has a number of varieties. 
The hardiest of these, and the one most widely scattered over the State, is 
the African. This variety needs to be quite ripe to be in its highest de- 
gree palatable. Most of the other varieties, as the French, Fig, Dwarf, 
Red, Cavendish, Lady-finger and Apple, are regarded as more delicate in 
their flavor. 

Parties growing for the market are selecting some one or other of 
these finer varieties, even though of more delicate vitalit}'. This plant 
sprouts or tillers from a single root or bulb, each sprout in its turn becom- 
ing the parent of another generation of sprouts, which attain their maturity 
in about fourteen months, when the pendant fruit is developed at the top, 
after the ripening of which the sprout dies and makes room for a younger 
one. One season, therefore, is not sufficient for the wants of the plant. 
The first white frost disposes of its leaves, and a freeze of the stem also. 

With a little painstaking the fruit can be ripened all over Florida, and 
even further north. Let the plant, when it comes up in the spring, have 
tillage and fertilization, (it requires a rich soil,) and at the commencement 
of cold weather take up and shelter from cold b}' embanking in earth, as in 
case of sugar-cane. The leaves will perish, but the stem will be preserved 
with more certainty than the eye of the sugar-cane. In the tollowing spring 
if these stems are reset and cultivated, ripened fruit during the summer will 
be assured. This precaution, however, is only necessary during some winters 
in the extreme northern counties of the State. It is very tenacious of life, 
and bears taking up and resetting almost like an onion. The plant belongs 
to the order of Musas and is closely allied to the 31. Textillis or Manilla 
hemp of the Phillipine Isles. It furnishes a fibre of extreme tenacity and 
durabilit}^, and may in time come to be extensively utilized as a fibre-pro- 
ducing plant. Another property of probable value possessed by this plant 



28 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

is its juice, which is very abundant in stem and leaf, trickling in quite a 
stream when fresh cut ; and makes an indellible die, which can be varied in 
color by the addition of other matter, and this dye improves with age. 
The fruit is worth far more than its cost for both food and ornamentation, and 
no Florida home is complete without its surrounding of the rich semi- 
ti'opical foliage of the banana. 

The Japan Plum or Loquat, as well as the Japanese Persimmon, 
flourish throughout the State ; both are excelle/it fruit, with growing pop- 
ularity, and promise to be profitable products for market beyond the State. 
The persimmon is as large as an apple, and in some of its varieties very 
much the same shape. Some specimens of the fruit are seedless. The 
flavor is rich and pleasant. 

The Peach, though it grows about as well in the far south of the State 
as farther north, yet does not fruit as regularly. Sometimes, for several 
years together, the tree will cast every bloom. In the northern counties, 
while the orange tree grows well, and even better than in the thinner lands 
of the southern counties, and for the last half a century have grown full 
crops for more than three-fourths of the years, yet are liable occasionally 
to be killed down by a severe freeze ; but the peach, in at least its earlier vari- 
eties, offers a high remuneration for its tillage. In North Florida it can be 
ready for the earliest market and command monopolizing prices. The 
Peen-to or Flat Peach, of China, begins to ripen in the neighborhood of 
Tallahassee, in Leon county, in the last week in April and continues for a 
month. These peaches brought most extravagant prices in New York the 
past spring. 

Pears of very many varieties, but especiall}^ the Dwarfs, have been for 
many years favorite incumbents of the orchards in the northern and mid- 
dle portions of the State, and are found to succeed well. Standards have 
been extensivel}^ planted of late years. Among these the Bartlett has so far 
proven the most satisfactory. The introduction within the last five years in 
the northern counties, especially in Leon and Jefl'erson, of the celebrated 
LeConte variety, has given an impetus to the production of this fruit that 
amounts to a boom, and promises to rival in extent the orange industry. 
The LeConte is a most vigorous grower, comes into bearing the fourth year 
from the cutting,, attains a growth of twenty-five or thirty feet, and is the 
most prolific and sure bearer of any character of fruit tree experimented 
with in Florida. The fruit is not, perhaps, as excellent in quality as some 
of the more choice varieties, but ,is nevertheless a very edible and readily 
marketable fruit. The rapidity of its growth, the small amount of capital, 
labor and time required to secure bearing orchards of any extent, its won- 
derful prolificness, excellent shipping properties and earliness of ripening, 
make the production of this pear deservedly one of the most popular in- 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 29 

vestments in Florida. Prices in New York so far have been most satisfac- 
rorj', and have stimulated the production of the LeConte so that in tlie two 
counties of Leon and Jetferson many thousands of these trees have been 
put out within the two 3'ears past. Parties in Tallahassee have recently 
refused $100 per acre for land with two-year old LeConte trees upon it, 
that could have been purchased for $5 per acre without the trees. We 
think this industrj- is likely in a few years to assume very great propor- 
tions, and is calculated to effect settlement and prices of real estate in that 
section very much as the orange business has in sections lower down the 
peninsula. 

Grapes of several varieties grow wild throughout Florida. They 
rarely if ever occur in the pine woods, but in hammock land trees are hung 
and festooned in ever}' direction with the luxuriant growth of vines. 

In many localities considerable attention has been given to the culti- 
vation of domesticated varieties. The Concord, Catawba, Ives, Clinton 
and other American grapes of that family have been found to grow and 
fruit well wherever the proper attention has been given the pruning, &c. 
As to the cultivation of grapes of that character on a large scale for making 
Avine, we know of no very extensive operations, and it is questionable 
whether our rainy season, which occurs during vintage in July, will not 
prove a serious draw-back, until experience and selection have induced a 
variation in the grape that will induce earlier ripening. The Delaware is a 
determined success in Middle Florida at any rate. 

The Scuppernong has been more extensively propagated than an}' 
other grape. In Gadsden county, near Mt. Pleasant, Col. M. Martin has a 
large vineyard of many varieties, and manufactures considerable quantities 
of wine. At Lake City, in Columbia county, Cen. J. J. Finley has also en- 
gaged largely in this business. Inquiries made of these gentlemen, and of 
Mr. John A. Craig, of Tallahassee, and Col. John F. White, of Live Oak, 
will probably meet with fuller information touching grape culture in Flor- 
ida than any other we can now suggest. 

Of the production of any varieties of Eurojjean loine grapes we are 
unable to give any reliable information. Many experiments have been 
made, and none, we think, have so far been very favorable. This may be en- 
tirely owing to the want of proper knoweldge of the best methods of pruning, 
&c. The so-called ivines manufactured in Florida and other parts of the 
South are only cordials, made by the addition of sugar or spirits to the 
juice of the grapes. They are sweet, heavy drinks generally, with decided 
flavors peculiar to themselves ; are palatable drinks when a taste is acquired 
for them, but are not wines in a commercial sense. Very considerable 
profit, however, attends their manufacture and sale. 

Apples, so far as we know, have never been extensively or very satis- 
factorily grown in Florida. There are in some of the northern counties 



30 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

small orchards of considerable age that have borne fruit abundantly for 
years, but are not of choice varieties. Mr. .Tohn A. Craig, six miles north 
of Tallahassee, has a young orchard of Shockley trees that are bearing to 
his perfect satisfaction. By proper selection of suitable varieties, and the 
adoption of a system of culture that experience will prove to be adapted to 
our climate and seasons, there is little doubt that on the stiff, rolling lands 
of the hill country in the northern portion of the State, apples ma}^ yet be- 
come a prominent feature among the industries. 

Figs of every known variety do well in Florida, but in the most south- 
ern counties are a little uncertain about fruiting. When it does bear in 
those sections the fruit is quite as good as that grown farther north, and it 
maj' be that painstaking in its tillage will discover a remedy for this irregu- 
larity. In the East it is an article of great commercial value, and when 
Florida becomes fully exercised in fruit growing, and has acquii'ed skill in 
preparing her fruits for market, the fig will probably become prominent 
among the list. The tree attains gi'eat age, and continues to bear indefi- 
nitel}-. Every home has its fig trees of different varieties, and the fruit is 
among the most wholesome article of diet. 

Plums of many wild varieties are found throughout the State. Little 
attention has been bestowed on them. Some of the early Southern varieties 
have been found profitable for shipment North. They ripen about the first 
of April, and can be put in the Northern market at a time when they have 
no other fruit to compete with. 

The Pecan of the West grows finely all over the State. Tt requires 
no tillage and nursing. Comes into bearing from the planting of the nuts 
in ten or twelve years. The fruit is abundant, falls when ripe, is easily and 
cheaply gathered, bears keeping and rough shipnient any distance in any 
climate, and is quoted in the New Orleans market to-day at 16i cents per 
pound wholesale for the best quality of Texas nuts. 

The Reverend Charles Beecher, of Massachusetts, has on his Southern 
home at Newport, on the St. Marks river, 21 miles south of Tallahassee, a 
very fine grove of pecan trees in full bearing. The profitableness of the 
production of this nut, as discovered by the experience of his grove, has 
awakened quite an interest in the planting of extensive areas in the nuts 
along the high banks of that beautiful river. Recently several gentlemen 
from New York have purchased tracts of land there for the purpose of 
planting entirely in pecan this fall. The fact that no fencing, fertilizing, 
cultivation or care other than the planting of the nuts, taken with the 
early and great productiveness of the trees, the imperishable and conven- 
iently-handled character of the fruit, with the steady and increasing de- 
mand and good prices for the nuts, put the production of pecan nuts high 
up on the list of desirable investments in Florida. The trees once planted 
grow on indefinitely, and attain gigantic dimensions. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 31 

The Almond grows well in Florida. Little success has been had in 
maturing fruit of any other variety than the Hardshell — which variety is 
not marketable. We know of no drawback to the successful production of 
other varieties, save the heretofore want of proper care and attention. 

OF THE LIST OF S^IALL FRUITS OR BERRIES 

we think experience in Florida discards all except the blackberry and 
strawberry. Currants, gooseberries, raspberries, so far as we know, have 
never proven a success in Florida. 

Blackberries grow wild all over the State in great profusion. Some 
attention has been given in Middle Florida, where labor is abundant and 
cheap, to drying the berries for shipment. The dried fruit commands 14 
cents per pound )iet^ and is becoming the source of considerable revenue to 
those who have undertaken its preparation and shipment. 

Strawberries are one of the prominent subjects of interest to the 
fruit growers and market gardeners. This delightful fruit, so eagerly 
sought after in every market, grows to great perfection throughout the 
State of Florida. The fruit comes into the market too early to find com- 
petition from any other section, and Florida strawberries enjoy a monopoly 
in the Eastern seaboard markets for many weeks during January, February 
and March. The production and shipment of the berries North is rapidly 
increasing, and has now assumed such proportions as to secure the pi'ovis- 
ion b}^ the transportation companies of suitable refrigerating cars for their 
proper preservation in transitu. As an evidence of the profitableness of 
the strawberr}^ culture in Florida, we extract from an article by Mr. W. H. 
Haskell, in a pamphlet recently issued by the Leon County Farmers' Club, 
the following: " Proceeds of one shipmeat of berries from Jacksonville, of 
1,052 quarts, shipped to New York, and sold for $2,6o0, or $2.50 per quart ; 
cost of packing and shipping, $283 ; leaving a net profit of $2,846." 

The production in Florida of 

EARLY YEGETABLES 

for shipment to Northern markets is rapidl}^ assuming extensive propor- 
tions, and will, in all time to come, prove a most important and profitable 
feature of her industries. 

During the present season ( 1882) cabbages have been shipped from 
Tallahassee, in Leon county, and sold in New York at a net profit of $500 
per acre. 

In South Florida tomatoes, cucumbers and beans thus far have been 
the leading articles for shipment. The tomato has been the most profitable. 
In that section of the State the fall and winter months are best suited for 
vegetable growing. Beans, peas, cucumbers, potatoes and cabbages can be 
grown at seasons which command for them monopolizing prices. Five, six 



32 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

and seven hundred dollars per acre have been realized, both from cabbages 
and tomatoes. Cucumbers have paid as much to the area in tillage, to the 
early grower, as any vegetable on the list. The great drawback, thus far, 
to the early market gardeners has been the want of ready and reliable trans- 
portation facilities. These, however, are rapidly multiplying and extending. 
And the vegetable and fruit trade will soon be so immense in this propor- 
tion as to command for their use all the commercial facilities that human 
skill and industry can supply. The State seems likely soon to become one 
vast orchard for fruits and garden for vegetables. 

The Sweet Potato comes nearer being a universal crop in Florida 
than any other the soil produces. It is easily propagated from the roots, 
sprouts or vine, and sometimes the seed, though the latter mode is rarely 
used. From its easy propagation and cultivation, its large 3'ield, and the 
variety and excellence of the dishes prepared from it, it is one of the in- 
dispensable crops. In the southern counties it ma}^ be planted at any sea- 
son of the year, and generally is not taken from the ground until needed 
for use. 

The Irish Potato, or "White Potato," is accredited with being a na- 
tive of Chili and Peru, and was introduced into North America by the 
Spaniards, from whence it was in 1586 carried by Sir Walter Raleigh 
to England, and perhaps acquired its name of " Irish " from the ex- 
tent to which it is grown in Ireland, and the excellence with which the 
Irish soil produces it. This tuber has within the last year or two taken a 
very prominent place among the very profitable early crops in Florida. On 
the best class of lands truckmen have been getting about an average of 
thirty barrels of first-class shipping potatoes per acre, which, getting into 
the Eastern markets about the time the old crop is exhausted, have been 
nettin;/, over cost of shipping and selling, about $4 per barrel, making say 
from $100 to $120 per acre realized from land in a short period of generally 
100 days, and leaving the ground ready for some other crop by first of May. 
These figures have been very much exceeded in many localities. On the 
excellent farm lands of Middle Florida some wonderful results have been 
attained. Mr. E. W. Gamble, of Tallahassee, for instance, has, during the 
past spring, taken from six acres of land, to which no commercial fertilizer 
had been applied, 288 barrels of potatoes, for which he realized the sum of 
$1,728, net. Some of his last shipments sold for $9 per barrel. Interest- 
ing statistical information, touching the cost and profitableness of the pro- 
duction of potatoes and cabbages for shipment North, can be obtained by 
the curious by application to the Secretary of the Leon County Farmers' 
Club, addressed at Tallahassee. There are in Florida many 

PLANTS FROM WHICH STARCH 
may be obtained, but there are three from which its preparation is the lead- 
ins use. These are the Maranta Arundenacea, or " Arrowroot of Com- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 33 



raerce ;" Coontie, or " Florida Arrowroot," and the 3Tanihot Utilissima, or 
Cassava. 

Arrowroot grows well on good land. It is not extensively grown for 
market, but frequently is grown and utilized for food purposes, as well as 
starch making. 

CooNTiE is indigenous to the southern counties, where it grows most 
luxuriously. On the Miami river, in Dade county, parties have been en- 
gaged in manufacturing starch from this plant for the Key West market. It 
is there sometimes appropriated to the uses of the table. Doubtless tillage 
would improve it in its useful properties, just as other plants have been 
thus improved and developed. 

Cassava. — Parties who have cultivated this plant pronounce it to be a 
most excellent food crop for fattening hogs ; that an acre of this crop will 
go further in feeding than an acre of potatoes. Like the potato, it may be 
propagated by cuttings of the stems. From this plant is prepared the 
Tapioca of commerce. Recently this plant has been utilized in the produc- 
tion of glucose, which it is found to yield in such quantities as to make its 
manufacture a leading purpose. 

Tobacco has been found, from the earliest settlement of Florida, 
to be well adapted to both the climate and soil, and has been at differ- 
ent periods and in different localities extensively produced. Several 
varieties of marked difference in character and quality are commonly 
cultivated. Experience has taught that Florida tobacco possesses a 
fineness and toughness of leaf that admirably suits it to the use of 
wl'appers for cigars. Before the war a wide reputation was estab- 
lished by the planters in the county of Gadsden for the production 
of what was termed the " Florida Speckled Leaf," whi'^h was pro- 
nounced the very best for wrappers grown anywhere, and commanded 
unusually high prices. The lands of that county were found to be pecu- 
liarl}^ suited to its production. One thousand pounds was the average 
yield per acre, and several handsome fortunes were amassed b3^ its culture. 
A highly flavored and fragrant article of tobacco is being extensively 
planted for home consumption in manj'' portions of the State. This quite 
equals in the excellence of its flavor the Cuban weed ; is indeed grown from 
seed originall}^ introduced from that island. What arc known as shell ham- 
mocks in the county of Wakulla, in Middle Florida, and indeed in many 
other parts of the State, are most admirably suited to the production of this 
Cuba^ariet}', and are just now attracting renewed attention for that pur- 
pose. 

Melons of every variety, from the classic pumpkin to the primitive 
gourd, abound in Florida, are of the very finest quality, and in the canta- 
loupe and watermelon furnish only an additional entr}^ to the shipping list 
of the truckman, and are by no means one of his Jeast profitable interests. 
3 



Florida — Its Climafe, Soil and Productions. 



Silk might easily be made a most profitable industry in Florida. The 
Morus Multicaulis and M. Alba — both grow most luxuriantly. Cuttings 
of either laid horizontally in farrows, and covered in early spring, put up a 
vigorous sprout at every joint, and grow in ten years to be hedges of stout 
canes. These kept cut back, so as to stool and multiply the number of 
sprouts, and not allowed to grow into trees, and thus elude the reach, will 
the third year, and thereafter, furnish heavy crops of foliage for feeding the 
worms. In many places careful experiment with choice varieties of Euro- 
pean, American and Asiatic varieties of worms have proven very satisfac- 
tory. Mrs. Ellen C. Long, of Tallahassee, and Mrs. R. B, VanValkenbnrg, 
of Jacksonville, have perhaps more careful!}' familiarized themselves with 
the features of silk-culture, of late j-ears in Floi'ida, than any other parties 
we can now recommend, and persons desirous of gaining more detailed in- 
formation on the subject are respectfully referred to them, to whom, we 
doubt not, it will be a pleasure to impart information. 

Honey is rapidly becoming a staple product of Florida, whose climate 
and flora seem speciallj^ adapted to the propagation of bees. Even in the 
winter months, in South Florida, there are a supply of flowers quite suffi- 
cient to support the hives. This permits heavier tolls to be made on them, 
as less honey must be left to feed during winter. Bees work in South Floi'- 
ida all winter. 

In response to recent circulars of inquiry upon the subject of bee- 
culture, addressed to diffei'ent counties in the State, by Mr. Columbus 
Drew, the agent of Bureau of Immigration at Jacksonville, much data on 
the subject has been furnished. Our space precludes the publication of 
this, but as a standard authority on the subject, to whom parties are recom- 
mended to apply for details, we recommend Mr. W. S. Hart, of New Smyrna 
in Volusia countj', who in April last furnished quite an exhaustive reply to 
Mr. Drew on the subject. 

Mr. Hart is the most prominent apiarist in Florida, is Vice-President 
for Florida of the North American Bee-keepers' Society. 

In the communication referred to Mr. Hart says : " In some portions 
of Florida bee-keeping pays better than in any other State. The average 
natural increase, and honey production, is from one to three and 150 pounds 
of honey. I have never seen or known of a diseased colou}^ of bees in the 
State. The enemies are toads, dragon-flies, ants, moths and birds. I con- 
sider the coast counties south of 29th parallel unsurpassed for the industiy _ 
Our bees winter perfectly on summer stands and gather honey or pollen every 
month in the year. Some of the leading honey and poUen-pi'oducing trees 
are the maple, willow, sweet-gum, bays, orange, myrtle, oak, bass-wood, 
hickor}', youpon, mocli-olive, saw-palmetto, cabbage-palmetto and mangrove, 
the last two of which come together in the middle of summer, and are un- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 35 

equalled as honey-producers by anything else in the whole vegetable king- 
dom known to the writer. They produce honey in abundance of the finest 
quality, and we think it safe to say never fail to produce a good crop. 
We also have honey-producing vines and plants too numerous to mention." 



WOODS. 

Numerous inquiries have been addressed to the Commissioner from 
different quarters as to the supply and location of different commercial 
woods to be found in Florida. It is quite impossible, in the absence of au- 
thoritative data, for the writer, whose personal knowledge or facilities for 
obtaining information officially on this subject is most limited, to at all pre- 
sent the facts of the case as they fully deserve. The establishment in Flor- 
ida, as in other States, of an Agricultural Bureau will in time shed light on 
this, one of her richest resources. 

Besides her boundless areas of yellow pine, whose timber is largely 
supplying the world's markets, there is in Florida, perhaps, a larger supply 
of C3'press timber than in any other section of the United States. This 
timber for the manufacture of staves for syrup and sugar barrels and hogs- 
heads is unsurpassed, is being extensively sawed and shipped to the prairie 
States as railroad cross-ties, and is rapidly coming in demand, especially in 
German}', for ship-building. It is, too, the shingle timber of the South. 
Untold fortunes are still standing in this timber along the numerous rivers, 
lakes, lagoons and swamps. 

The Live-oak, so durable and valuable for ship-knees, is still abundant 
along the coast and rivers, and of the most gigantic size. 

Red Cedar, of the very best quality, abounds in all the low hammock 
lands along the coast and rivers. The cutting of this timber has for years 
been a prominent industry. Large supplies are consumed by cedar mills at 
Cedar Key and Tampa, where quantities of this wood ^5<,sawed to supply 
the pencil factories of A. W. Faber & Co. ^ ' 

White-oak, suitable for stave timber, is to be found in very consider- 
able quantities in many portions of the State — in the counties of Jackson, 
Calhoun, Gadsden, Jefferson and Wakulla, in Middle Florida. Especially 
in the great hammocks along St. Marks and Wakulla rivers, in the latter 
count}', are to be found rich supplies of this valuable timber, ready of access 
from the streams. So rapid is growth that upon large plantation tracts, 
cultivated up to the beginning of the late war, and since then left idle, for- 
ests of white-oak have sprung up, and in the short space of 22 years attained 
a growth that will square from ten to twelve inches. It is a curious sight to 



36 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

ride through a forest of stately trees and count the old corn ridges beneath 
them. 

Red-oak is the principal timber growth over extensive areas of high ham- 
mock in the hill country' of Middle Florida. This timber, while some- 
what too porous and brash to be used in the manufactui-e of agricultural 
implements, answei's admirably for staves for a certain class of bar- 
rels, and furnishes a most abundant supply of tan-bark, making the manu- 
facture of leather a cheap and profitable industry in that section. 

Many other varieties of oak abound throughout the State. 

Hickory is abundant over extensive areas. Trees of the most extra- 
ordinary size are to be found in all the hammocks. The climate of Florida 
makcB the second growth of this ordinarily slow growing tree rapid, and 
inexhaustible supplies of most excellent hickor}- can for years be drawn 
from the hammocks all over Florida. The same is true of the ash in many 
localities. 

[*OPLAB is a common growth along most of the rivers ; the supply is 
good. 

Wild Cherry and Black Walnut are not so abundant, but are veiy 
rapid growers and attain great size. Several enterprising spirits propose 
the planting of extensive plantations of black walnut on the shell lands 
alon{> the St. Marks Railroad in Wakulla county. The cheapness of the 
lauds, (Old Forbes' Purchase,) their wonderful fertility, the rapidit}'^ with 
which a wood of black walnut attains marketable growth, (about 15 years,) 
and the absence of an}' cost of culture and fencing, it is thought, makes 
sucli a scheme a safe and sure investment. 

" Stinking Cedar," ( Torreya Taxifolia Arnott,) is an evergreen, be- 
lougifig to the yew tribe of conifers, peculiar to Florida, and confined to a 
rather limited locality near Aspalaga, on the Apalachicola river. The 
tirul>er is possessed of the most remarkable durability, great lightness, is 
soft, splits straight, can be rived as thin as card board, has elasticity, re- 
ceives a high polish, and ought to be valuable for any purposes requiring 
thei4e qualities in a high degree. It is said that the dead trunks of the 
torreyo are to be found imbedded in the alluvial drift of the Apalachicola 
river bottom in a perfect state of preservation, (as to the heart,) and that 
they must, from every indication, have been exposed to the decomposing 
infltieuces of earth and water for centuries. The lamp posts in the Capitol 
grounds in Tallahassee are made of this remarkable wood. 

Red Bay, {Laurens Carolinensis) is commonly termed " Florida ma- 
hogany." It is very abundant throughout the hammocks and swamps of 
Florida. Its dark-colored, handsomely veined wood makes it valuable for 
cahiuet work. It commands ready sale in the markets. 

It would be quite an endless job to enumerate the long list of Florida 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. af 



woods that have been and could be utilized in the arts. As yet, except in 
the case of pine, cypress, cedar and live-oak, very little has been done in 
manufacturing timber from the many valuable trees in the State. Vast 
forests of most valuable wood have been felled and burned. As transporta- 
tion facilities are increased and manufacturing developed, more attention 
will be directed to the sawing of hard woods. 



STOCK RAISING-, 

as applied in Florida, embraces so many purposes, methods, and degrees of 
profitable success, that it is quite difficult in the limits of a publication of 
this character to discuss it intelligibly to one totally unfamiliar with it. 

Along the coast, in all the counties east of Escambia, are to be found 
larger or smaller herds of cattle. These run at large through the pine 
woods, swamps or salt marshes, and thrive on the coarse pasturage in a 
manner quite profitable and satisfactory to their owners, who " round up " 
once a year, mark and brand the new calves and give little other attention. 
So little expense attends this sort of stock-raising that notwithstanding 
the paultry character of the scrubs produced, they prove valuable. Indeed, 
the hide and tallow in a five-year-old steer would return a good profit on the 
cost of his keep. These cattle are small, with thick heavy necks and fore- 
parts and narrow loins, but when fat will clean, at four years old, about 500 
to 600 pounds, which finds ready sale among Floridians at from 6 to 10 
cents per pound. There are stock-men in all the coast counties west of the 
Suwannee, however, who realize very handsome results from the sale of 
these cattle. It is doubtful whether the rough pasturage they rely upon 
will admit of a A^ery marked improvement in these cattle, even if crossed 
with improved breeds. 

In the northern counties of Middle Florida, on the red lands, where 
many varieties of excellent pasture grasses abound, and where stock are 
kept under fence, a very diflferent tone of things exists. Thoroughbreds of 
the Durham, Devon, Jersey, A3'reshire, Hereford, and Alderney breeds, have 
for some years been introduced and liberally used, until a large per- 
centage of the cattle in that section are grades of one or the other of these 
bloods. The Bermuda grass pasturages of these counties are naturally of 
a very fine quality, and of recent years are receiving a degree of attention 
tending very greatly to their rapid improvement. Stock-raising of all 
kinds is being fostered by the farmers as most profitable adjuncts to their 
farming operations, not only in the growing of manures, but the ready sale 
at good prices, of the dairy products and increase. Near the towns of Mad- 
ison, Monticello and Tallahassee are to be found several herds of thorough- 
breds that do credit to their owners, and are fast winning a reputation for 



38 Florida — Its Climate,, Soil and Productions. 

these places for excellent dairj' products. Butter exhibited at the annual 
exhibition of the Middle Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Association, 
compares most favorably with the production of any dairy districts. This 
is a rapidly growing industry in these localities, and bids fair to take a 
prominent place. 

In South Florida cattle raising is a leading industr}-. More capital 
has been employed in it than in the tillage of the soil, until within the last 
few years. 

That this investment pays well has this practical proof: More money 
has been made in that business than in any other, until quite recently, and 
a number have thus grown wealthy. The cattle are not so large as those 
grown in Texas. First, because the native grass of that part of Florida is 
less nutritious than that of Texas, and further, far less attention has been 
given here to improve the native breeds of stock. The buyers in the Cuban 
markets, to which shipments are made, are said to prefer the Florida to the 
Texas beef. If the South Florida grass be not so nutritious, it seems to 
impart a more agreeable flavor to the flesh. 

As cattle-raising has been a pajdng enterprise in the past history of 
the State, so it is likely to be still, in some places, for years to come. 
Gradually, however, it will be forced to retire before the tread of a popula- 
tion too dense to leave it, as at present, the whole land surface for pastur- 
age. These cattle-men have a large experience of their observing powers 
through what ihey see and what they hear, and the thinking each one does 
for himself. They are reall}' better informed frequentl}- than some who know 
far more than they about books. These men will see the trend of things, 
and will be ready to change their investments as soon as it will be best for 
them and best for the countr}'. 

As the inquiring immigrant must needs pass through the country', the 
better to see if it be suited to the supply of his wants, and as a thinl3^-settled 
countr}^ is, for that reason, less inviting to the traveler, it maj' be pertinent for 
his encouragement, to mention one prominent feature in this population of 
the Southern counties. I mean the cordial hospitality which is met at 
their hearthstones. As in nature the}' are the same with other men, we 
suppose ready hospitality must result from their emploj^ments and sur- 
roundings. They need frequentl}' the help one of another, in herding 
their stock ; then in the woods, and at the table of some one of their number, 
most of the men of a pretty wide circle frequently take their meals to- 
gether. They are thus put in sympath}^ one with another. Another char- 
acteristic of the section is to add but little to their bill of fare because of 
the company. The dishes ordinarily provided for the family are set before 
the guests. And as it costs less trouble, so he is the more heartily welcome 
than in many places where there is more preparation and more pretension 
in the reception given. From whatever source this trait of character may 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 39 

have originated, it is now the habit of the people, and will sometimes cheer 
the traveler as he journej's through a strange land. 

Sheep have been found to do well in Florida wherever they have been 
given a fair trial. In many portions of the State where the land is very 
thin and sandy, the vegetation is correspondingly sparce and coarse, and 
while sheep will live on it and increase at a fair rate, they, of course, under 
such circumstances produce an inferior quality of both wool and mutton, 
and tend very much to become bare of wool on the legs and bellies, but 
their continued presence has been found to gradually overcome these very 
drawbacks ; and under their grazing, pine woods, originally very scant of 
vegetation, have in a few years become enriched ; new characters of weeds 
and grass have spung up, and sheep and new crops prove of mutual benefit 
to one another. In some other portions of the State, especially in the coun- 
ties west of the Apalachicola river, the rolling pine woods furnish pastur- 
age of a much better character, and sheep have been found to do propor- 
tionately well. There are to be found in that part of the State some very 
fair flocks, and the profits therefrom, when compared with the cost of their 
keep, show a net perhaps beyond what is realized b}' breeders of a higher 
class with more expensive surroundings. Sheep, like goats, feed upon a 
greater variety of plants than cattle, and are susceptible of profitable hand- 
ling on pastures that would not support a herd. 

On the red lands of the middle and northern portions of the State 
sheep have always proven profitable. Heretc^fore the extensive culture of 
cotton and other agricultural crops has rather tended to keep all available 
lands in cultivation, but as the supply and quality of colored labor has de- 
creased in that section, man}' broad acres have been turned out. On these 
old plantations the Bermuda grass, having no longer the plow and hoe to 
contend with, has asserted itself and extensive pasturages of this nutritious 
crop now invite the introduction of flocks. 

The farmers of this section are, as a rule, very intelligent and wide- 
awake people, are not slow to perceive the advantages of the new opportu- 
nity, and are beginning to turn attention and money in this new channel. 
Bucks of improved strains are being introduced, both of long and medium 
wools. In this connection we extract from a letter from Mr. John L. In- 
glis, of Madison county, to the Secretary of this Bureau, in reply to some 
inquiries made recently in the interest of some Northern men who were 
considering sheep-culture in Middle Florida : " I find no trouble in break- 
ing up Bermuda sod four or five years old ; and where a perfect mat of roots, 
a sharp turn-plow, (two-horse,) with coulters, runs just about two and a half 
inches deep. Follow with a twister in same furrow. In a word, Bermuda 
is all and more than its friends claim for it. It is the best pasture I ever 
saw. Evervthing likes it, and it makes No. 1 hay, both in quality 



40 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

and quantity. It grows best on rich land, but it will enrich old land 
quicker than anything (except ash element and cow peas). The field you 
refer to has made three tons to the acre at one cutting, and pastured seven 
months in the year, too. It is now (November 1st) splendid, green, and- a 
fine pasture. I plowed it, as I thought it was root-bound. I will plant it 
in corn or oats this season, and let it go for hay or pasture again. I have 
not time to write you more, but Bermuda grass and sheep, in my opinion, 
is the course to take with the old plantations." 

In the southernmost counties of the State sheep husbandry is rapidly 
increasing, and is thought to be more profitable than cattle. 

Hogs can be raised as cheaply and of as fine quality as anywhere. In 
ante-bellum times all planters in Middle Florida were large producers of 
bacon. The difficulty of protecting them from theft in that region since 
the " old plantation smoke-houses " ceased to be a certain source of supply, 
has done much to limit the business. Yet man^' small farmers in all the 
northern counties have introduced Berkshire, Poland China, Essex, and 
Chester White breeds, and besides their entire home supply have a surplus 
of bacon, hams, and lard to dispose of at good prices. In many other por- 
tions of the State this character of stock is allowed to run at large ; they 
gain a living in the woods, and in one and two years grow large enough to 
kill, having cost their owners nothing. 

Horses in some parts of the State are being bred profitably, and of a 
most excellent quality. The •" cow ponies " in use among the cattle-men 
of the South are a breed as peculiar to Florida as is the Mustang to Texas. 
The}^ are admirably suited to the uses made of them. In Madison, Jeffer- 
son, Marion, Alachua, Leon, Gadsden, and Jackson counties, some thor- 
oughbred stallions have for some years been made use of, and many very 
st3dish youngsters are to be found in the stables of breeders in those locali- 
ties. The presence of nutritious grasses in those counties, together with 
the firm, smooth roadways, gives advantage and attraction to the raising 
of horses and mules that is wanting elsewhere. 

In the annual premium list of the agricultural shows and stock exhibi- 
tions in those sections a prominent place is given native colts. Less attention 
has been directed to the acquirement of speed in the production of horses in 
that part of Florida, than to the acquisition in the colts of st3'le, bottom and 
general usefulness. Those interested in further inquiring on this subject are 
respectfully referred to Mr. Amos Hays, of Greenwood, Jackson county, 
Florida ; Captain Patrick Houstoun, of Tallahassee ; Mr. Charles P. Davis, 
of lamonia post-office, in Leon county ; Messrs. Daniel H. Bryan and Geo. 
W. Taylor, of Monticello, in Jefferson county. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 41 



FISH. 

The great variety and excellence of the fish in Florida is not one of 
the least attractions, whether to the sportsman or more practical honsewife. 
The lakes and streams of the fresh waters abound in fish of the finest qual- 
ity, prominent among which are the black bass, pike, jack, bream, and 
many varieties of the perch family. Along the coast the list of varieties is 
longer than the fisherman's list of names for them. Red snapper, black 
snapper or grouper, sheephead, red-fish black-fish, pompano, Spanish mack- 
erel, rock-fish, mullet, and a long list of small " pan-fish " are chief amono- 
the marketable varieties. The pompano is regarded as the choice among 
epicures. The snapper and grouper are both deep water fish, and are taken in 
great numbers by smacks on the banks ofl? shore for the Havana, New Orleans 
and Galveston markets. They can be kept for weeks in the " wells " of the 
fishing smacks without injury to them. On both the Atlantic and Gulf 
coasts there are extensive fisheries, where, in the season of the " run," mul- 
let are taken in vast numbers on the seine-j^ards. Some of the strikes made 
\iy the fortunate seine-masters number hundreds of barrels. These fish take 
salt quite as well as the mackerel of the northern waters, and furnish an 
abundant supply of cheap and wholesome food to the inhabitants. 

Along the Gulf coast west of the Suwannee, and especially on the 
coast line of Wakulla and Franklin counties, the revenue derived 
from this industry is considerable. The proximity of those points 
to the southern counties of Alabama and Georgia enables the 
small farmers of those sections to reach the Florida coast in their 
farm wagons. About the first of October, when the " run " of the fish 
commences, the Georgia and Alabama farmer takes his wife and children in 
his wagon and journey's southward. A week of recreation is spent, after the 
year's work, on the beacli, where these " up-country " folk enjoy the salt air 
and water, and return home with several barrels of pickled fish to be eaten 
during the winter. Last ftill it was estimated that more than thi-ee hundred 
Georgia wagons passed through Tallahassee alone, on their way to the fish- 
eries. How many fisheries there are on the whole coast we are not advised nor 
what quantities of fish are shipped to points beyond the State, but assuredly 
it is a growing and paying industry. Perhaps no waters abound in fish in 
greater quantity or of better quality than the waters of the coast of Flor- 
ida. There was shipped from Cedar Keys in 1880, 1,701,000 pounds of bar- 
relled fish, of the value of $68,000, according to the authority of Col. W. H. 
Sebring, of Levy countv. The Key West Democrat^ of April 1st, 1882, 
states that about one dozen schooners of Key West, aggregating 750 tons, 
were then engaged in the taking of fish for the Havana market. Recently 
the catch of several fisheries along the coast have been utilized in the man- 



42 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

ufacture of a fish fertilizer, which is taking a high place among the farmers 
and promises to develop into an extensive industry. 

GrREEN Turtle may be mentioned as another commodity of the Flor- 
ida coast. In Key West the beef and turtle markets adjoin. They are 
both supplied with about equal regularity, and very many prefer the turtle 
to the beef, particularly after the latter has been submitted to the hardships 
of a voyage from the mainland. Turtle are shipped alive to the Northern 
markets from Key West, and sometimes car-loads of them pass over the 
Florida Transit and West India Railroad from Cedar Keys on their way 
North. One of the sp©rts of persons living near the coast is walking the 
beach in April and May, watching for and " turning." the turtle that crawl 
out upon the shore in that season to lay. When they find the turtle making 
her nest or laying her eggs a suflScient number of persons lay hold and turn 
her upon her back. She is then helpless, unable to re-turn herself, so as to 
have the use of her feet. Parties are thus supplied with both the turtle 
and her eggs, and both are prized as savory food. 

Oysters ai"e so continuous around the coast, that when our railroad 
and canal system shall have been completed, a supply, at short notice, will 
reach any part of the interior of the State in a few hours, at the expense of 
gathering and short freightage. Cedar Keys has already commenced their 
shipment, and for all the distance that ice can make them safe freightage, 
fresh, canned, and in the shell, this commerce is likely to extend. The sup- 
ply seems inexhaustible. 

Sponge. — The gathering of sponge along the Grulf coast is rapidl}'- be- 
coming an industry of considerable dimensions. The principal sponge 
reefs lie to the southeastward of the port of St. Marks, between that point 
and Cedar Keys. It has been quite impossible to ascertain definitely the 
number of vessels engaged in this business, or the value of the aggregated 
catch. The Key West Democrat, of April 1st, 1882, gives the number of 
vessels from that port alone engaged in taking sponge at 150, and the value 
of the sponge shipped from that point during the past year as amounting 
to $250,000. Since Cedar Ke^^s, St. Marks, Rio Carabelle and Apalachi- 
cola are also extensivelj' engaged in this business, it will be fair to estimate 
the number of additional craft on the reef at tllj^ble the above number, 
and the value of the whole amount of sponge taken in the 3'ear at a little 
short, if any, of $750,000. Spongers report the growth of these fish on the 
reef to be increasing, and there is reason to expect the business to develop 
much greater proportions. o^ - ,- 






Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 43 



FERTILIZERS. 

Almost an}' soil may be improved b^' proper fertilization, but in order 
to do it wisely, and with the highest profit, several things ought first to be 
known. First, one needs to know what elements of plant food are con- 
tained in his soil, and it what proportions. Xext, he needs to know what 
are the elements that will be' suitable food for his particular kind of crop, 
and in what proportions. Thus knowing what was deficient, he would know 
what to suppl}', and in what quantities. But the period is somewhere 
ahead yet when farmers generally will have such acquaintance with their 
soils, and with the constituent elements of their crops. One of the great 
wants of Florida, therefore, is a State Geologist and Chemist. He could 
not onl}^ tell the farmer in what his fields were deficient, but frequently 
could point him to beds of the needed nourishment, in his immediate 
neighborhood, awaiting his call for it. There are beds of mineral and veg- 
etable fertilizers all over the State. These need to be examined scientific- 
ally and their value declared authoritatively, that the unscientific may 
know where and what they are and what the}' are worth. Without this in- 
formation the farmer is but guessing and working in the dark. Instead of 
supplying what his soil needs, he may be ^boring to spread upon it what it 
already has in superabundance — earrving coals to Xew Castle. 

Phosphatic rocks have already been found in Alachua and Cla}' coun- 
ties. Some of these rocks from Clay, so we are informed, were sent to the 
oflSce of the Scientific American. Xew York, with an inquiry whether the}^ 
were of such character and firmness as suited them for good building mate- 
rial. The reply is said to have been that they would do well for building- 
material, but much better for agricultural purposes. That they contained 
a large percentage of the phosphate of lime — that which gives to the rock 
near Charleston, S. C, its value as a fertilizer, the mining of which has 
proven such a bonanza since the war. 

Green marl is also found in some of the counties in several portions of 
the State. The green marl of New Jersey, besides the lime, clay and sand 
of ordinary marl, is said to contain about 4 per cent, of phosphoric acid, 
one of the scarce and yet important elements of plant food. 

Orer an extended area embraced between the Wakulla and St. Marks 
rivers, in Wakulla county, and indeed extending tar to the westward of the 
former river, there exists a rich deposit of piiosporic rock, and the soil of 
the hammocks in which this rock is found gives evidences in its forest 
growth of a fertility surpassed by none in Florida. Nowhere could the 
utilization or manufactory of a commercial fertilizer be more cheaply and 
conveniently engaged in than there, on account of the transportation facil- 
ities enjoyed both by water and rail. 



44 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

All over the State are sulphur springs, and an examination may find 
beds of sulphur near the surface worth working. Some preparation has 
alreadj^ been made for working the4tHre-ore of Levy county. 

Most of the plants which make up our crops have alread}^ been submitted 
to analysis of their trunk, branches, leaves and fruit. The farmer can find 
a statement of these results, the number of simple elements contained in 
each species of plant examined, and the proportion of them, in his agricul- 
tural paper. A State Geologist and Chemist could then tell what of these ele- 
ments were contained in the soil, and in what proportion. Those absent 
from the soil or present in insufficient quantity could be intelligently sup- 
plied. True, precise accuracy would require examination or analysis of 
each particular farm, but sufficient approximation to the truth for practical 
purposes can be reached with less labor than this. The geologist, already 
familiar with the rocks of each geological formatiou, and the simple ele- 
ments of which these rocks are composed, has only to learn to which forma- 
tion the surftice of any particular section belongs, and he knows 
what to expect as to the character and constituents of the soil. A 
few analj^ses in a locality would enable him to give with tolerable accuracy 
useful lessons to a whole communit}^ concerning the elements of plant 
food contained in the soil, and in what proportions, whether in excess or 
deficiency, or whether needed ones are entirel^'^ absent. The planter, with- 
out being geologist, chemist or botanist, would then be able to work intel- 
ligently in supplying what is deficient or entirely absent. His agricultural 
paper would tell him the simple elements contained in the plant he desired 
to cultivate ; the geologist what were the elements of his soil and their pro- 
portions, and frequently where to get the deficient or absent ones, pointing, 
it may be, to beds in his immediate neighborhood. 

Because it will take but a few lines to state names of all the simple 
substances of plant food, and because the unscientific reader is unfamiliar with 
most of their names, we give them, fourteen in number : Ox3^gen, nitrogen, 
hydrogen, carbon, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, silicon, chlorine, 
sulphur, phosporus, iron and manganese. The first two named make the at- 
mosphere we breathe. The first and third, oxygen and hydrogen, combined 
chemically, make the water we drink. Common charcoal is the fourth — car- 
bon almost pure. Potassium combined with oxygen makes potash. Sodium 
combined with oxygen makes soda. Calcium 'makes lime. Magnesium 
combined with oxygen makes magnesia. Silicon with oxygen makes sand. 
Chlorine with sodium makes common salt. Sulphur, phosphorus, ii'on and 
manganese are all simple substances and are better known to the common 
reader under these names than they are in their combinations. These 
fourteen simple substances contain in their various combinations all 
the diflferent substances upon which plants feed. Knowing these, 
we know all the materials from the many that make up the earth's 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 45 



bulk, we need to procure to enrich our soil. Some sources of supply 
for the lack of our lands are generally known. Every farmer knows that 
the droppings of his domestic animals are a benefit to even the best of his 
lands. This waste matter was obtained from the vegetable matter with 
which these were fed. The muck of the ponds is also vegetable, 
containing plant food in a less concentrated form. It is made up of the 
decayed and decaying remains of what was once the vegetable life of the 
forest. As milk contains all the simple elements necessary for developing the 
young animals which nature prepares it for so muck contains all the ele- 
ments to develop plants, for itself once existed as i)lants. This muck, col- 
lected in ponds and depressed places, is found all over the State. There is 
an easy access to it in the dry season, which embraces the winter and sprino- 
months, but it is, ordinarily, not in a condition for use as it is first taken 
from the bed. In most instances it is so infused with tannic acid that the 
process of decomposition in this muck or vegetable mould has been arrested. 
However rich it msiy be in plant food, that nourishment is locked up in 
chemical combinations, until the process of decomposition is restored. Hu- 
mus or mould can feed plants only as it goes on to further decomposition, thus 
yielding up the food it contains. Tannic acid is, moreover, poisonous to the 
growing plant. The application of the freshly-dug muck, therefore, has 
fi-equently hurt rather than helped the cr^p to which it was applied. If 
spread in the lots rain will wash out some of the acid, some be evaporated 
hy the wind ; or an admixture of lime with the muck will neutralize it. 
The process of decay will thus be restored, and the muck made a useful 
fertilizer. Muck is more or less rich, according to the plant remains of 
which it is made. As diflerent plants take up a somewhat different food, 
or it may be, the same elements in different proportions, even the same 
plant in diflerent parts of its body or organs requires a different food. The 
buds, leaves, fruits, and seed generally contain most of the elements in 
which poor soils are deficient. 

Lime has already been mentioned as doing a friendly office in neutrali- 
zing unwholesome acids, but it has other uses to the plant. It is of itself 
plant food in a limited degree, and when applied to the soil hastens the de- 
cay of vegetable mould, and contributes also to the decomposition of the 
minerals of the soil, containing other food. Lime is easily found in beds 
all over the State, but the surface soil is frequentl}^ deficient in this 
element, even when it rests upon a strata of lime onl^'- a little wa}- 
down. Dr. Mcllvain, of Cedar Ke3^s, who had some experience in lime- 
burning to get the material for his large concrete hotel, told me it could be 
burned from the shells on the coast at a cost of about 20 cents per barrel. 

Common salt is easily and cheaply obtained. It readilj^ supplies all 



46 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

the chlorine necessary, as well as some of the soda. It must be applied 
sparingly. 

In the fertilizers upon the market, potash, phosphorus, and ammonia 
are the chief ingredients of value. In two places phosphatic rocks have 
been already discovered. This encourages the hope that a geologist would 
find other points where they are present. It may be the places already 
known, if tested and found to be valuable, could supply the whole State. 
Captain Buddington, of Claj' county, is said to have powdered the phos- 
phatic rock there and applied it to his garden, and nearly doubled the crop 
of his vegetables. 

Most of the fourteen simple elements, which constitute the food of 
plants in its entirety, can be appropriated as food only when two or more of 
them are chemically combined in certain proportions. Nitrogen as food is 
among the costliest kinds that we supply to our crops, and 3'et nitrogen is 
all around us, making four-fifths of the air we breathe, but in that form the 
plant cannot use it. In the form of ammonia, and in the form of nitric acid 
the plant can appropriate.it. Ammonia is composed of one part of nitro- 
gen and tliree of hydrogen — one of the elements of water. One of the great 
wants of the age is a cheap method of forming this combination. For, 
since atmosphere and water are so plentiful, what is now the dearest would 
then be amoug the cheapest of fertilizers. Agricultural science in its pro- 
gress will probably soon supply this want. At present the cheapest method 
we have of effecting this combination is through the bodies of living plants 
and animals ; both are laboratories for producing this combination, either in 
the changes -wrought in the food taken, or in the decay of their organisms 
at death. As an illustration, the excrement of the cow contains more am- 
monia than the hay upon which she was fed. So it is with the droppings 
of animals generally, whether liquid or solid, and in the decay of the bodies 
of both plants and animals, ammonia is one of the resulting compounds, 
and are in greater or less abundance as the decaying substance contained more 
or less of nitrogenous matter. 

Another convenient fertilizer for Florida soil is just now beginning to 
receive attention — the fish guano already being prepared at some of the 
fisheries. The bones and heads of fish are rich in phosphate of lime. A 
.great many fish are taken in the net at the fisheries not fit for food, and of 
these too-ether with the offal of the better ones, the fish guano is made, con. 
taining a good percentage of ammonia, phosphate of lime, and some other 
fertilizino- matter. The coast will directly be girded with factories of this 
description wherever there are fisheries. 

I have treated more at large the subject of fertilizers, and the undevel 
oped sources of them here at home, because the facts stated are in them" 
selves an argument for a Bureau of Agriculture. We need one that the 
practical farmer may have intelligent guidance, and that his pathway may 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 47 

be enlightened by that careful scientific experience which is enabling the 
other States to advance with an easier and more rapid step to agricultural 
success. If each farmer in the State, under such tuition, is enabled to en- 
large the product of his field by one bushel of corn per annum, and to re- 
lieve himself of one day's non-productive labor, all the expense of such 
department would be more than compensated. 

There is, perhaps, in the whole range of the science of plant culture no 
subject of greater importance, nor one upon which fewer established truths 
of universal application are recognizable, than the matter of fertilizing 
Even among men, as well as all domestic animals, the character, preparation 
and fitness of food supplied them is one of the conditions that most se- 
riously aflects all their vital functions and etfective purposes ; and philoso- 
phers declare that not only the intellectual and moral attributes of indi- 
viduals, but, indeed, of provinces and nations, are largely determined by 
external climatic influences and internal gastric conditions. 

The powers of locomotion in all except the lowest types of animal life, 
and the capacity they possess of changing their habitat and readily adapting 
themselves to changed environment, gives to this kingdom a wonderful ad- 
vantage in the struggle for existence over the members of the vegetable 
kingdom, which, in most instances, can avail themselves of only such condi- 
tions as occur in reach of their fixed and unchangable location. So that 
the judicious supplying of the wants of plant life, and their protection from 
the inroads of enemies by artificially assisting the natural survival of the 
fitest, is, perhaps, one of the most difficult and delicate offices ever attempted 
by human ingenuity. What wonderful progress and success have attended 
the eflforts of the intelligent agriculturist, horticulturist and florist in this 
particular, assisted b}' the gradually-acquired experience of successive gener- 
ations of observing experimenters through the ages that have accompanied 
the domestication and improvement of plant life, is familiar to the well- 
informed mind. The agencies and methods to be employed by the intelli- 
gent operator in improving the character and supplying the wants of do- 
mesticated animals and plants, are ever to be determined in connection 
with the other conditions, natural or artificial, that constitute the environ- 
ment. 

The two most important factors to be considered in the solution of this 
problem are climate and soil, as regards the successful culture of plants. 
Methods of culture and fertilization that experience has shown to be best 
suited to the development of plant life in one locality or habitat, are found 
to be unsuited to the wants of even the same orders or species in another 
locality" possessing marked diflerences of climate and soil. In Florida the 
peculiarity of her climate, as well as the character of her soil and relative 
efiect the two exercise upon plant life, it has been found, make many of the 



48 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



most approved theories and practices of cultivation, effective elsewhere, of 
little practical value when applied here ; indeed, in many cases what are 
recognized as universally proper methods further north have been found to 
be seriously injurious to the condition of like crops in this State. 

Throughout her great field of operations nature seeks to establish and 
maintain an equilibrium that shall result in giving a fair average chance for 
every created thing to protect and support itself. Suppose that our ten 
months of summer weather, with our regular supply of rainfall, could be 
transferred to the rich prairies of the Northwest, how many j^ears before 
the combined effects of such seasons and soil would develop an advantage 
in favor of plant life that would make of those regions a jungle that would 
defy the efforts of the settler ? If Florida soil was as fertile as that of 
Iowa for instance, what race of men could conquer her forests and subject 
her forces to control ? Take away from Florida her sandy and compara- 
tively poor soil, and replace it with such alluvial deposits as the great 
Mississippi carries to the State of Louisiana, and the cane and bamboo 
would run the people out of the country. As it is, the wonderful growth 
of vegetable life, under the influence of our semi-tropical seasons, is a fea- 
ture differing from any other portion of the United States. 

In many parts of the country the season in which plants can grow is very 
limited, and in the cultivated areas the whole of that time is employed in 
maturing the crops planted, so that the growth of all weeds is carefully 
prevented, and when the crop planted is harvested the ground is left bare, 
or, at best, but a meagre stubble is left to be turned under and help to 
compensate for the loss the land sustains in producing the part carried 
awa}'^ ; so that year after year there is a continuous tax upon the soil, and 
but a small return made to it. In many parts of the Southern States, where 
the seasons are somewhat longer, any advantage that might be derived 
therefrom is in many instances counteracted by the effect of regularly 
occurring seasons of drought during the summer months that impedes the 
growth of plants and limits the amount of vegetable matter to be returned 
to the soil almost, or quite as much, as does the shortness of the growing 
season fui'ther north. True it is that this evil is in a great measure reme- 
died by rotating crops and by planting clover and grasses, which are 
plowed under. The debt is Anally paid, but it is at a fearful rate of interest, 
involving extra labor and the use of the land for the time necessary to ma- 
ture the fertilizing crops. Notwithstanding fciie expensiveness of this pro- 
cess of recuperation and fertilizing, it is universally recognized as the 
surest and most economical method of attaining the end desired ; or, in 
other words, however costly it has proven in different localities for farmers 
to adopt the practice of laying land fallow from time to time, or letting it 
go to grass or clover to be turned under, such method is periodically of 
absolute necessity to keep their lands up to their standard of productive- 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 49 

ness. The application of manures measurably obviates this necessity, and 
on a small farm well supplied with live stock, the supply of droppings is 
often sufficient to fully compensate for all crops taken from the land, and 
the use of commercial fertilizers, separately and composted with lot ma- 
nures, is often resorted to. But the making and handling of any quantity 
of compost is an exceedingly expensive operation, and if relied on solel}'^ it 
takes an enormous quantity, generally much more than the circumstances 
of the fai*mer aftbrd. The purchase of commercial fertilizers is a drain on 
the till, and if we compare the cost of the enormous quantities of these 
manures frequently paid for in some localities of the South, with the value 
of the crops sold from the same localities, the difference is an exceedingl}' 
narrow one for the farming class to subsist on. Now, what is measurably 
true of every part of Florida, and pre-eminently a distinguishing pecu- 
liarity on her rich red uplands in the middle district of the State, is the 
feasibility of taking away one crop and putting back two in every season, 
with scarcely any additional cost ; or, in other words, we claim that cer- 
tainljr on the clayey uplands of the counties of Madison, Jelferson, Leon, 
Gadsden, and Jackson, in Middle and West Florida, and on very similar 
soil in parts of Marion, Alachua and Hernando in the South, a judicious 
farmer can cultivate his land every year, and without the application of one 
pound of artificial manure his land will regularly imjyrove each year, until 
after a few years' of steady cultivation its fertility will be many fold greater 
than when he began, or if he had let it lie out uncultivated. That this con- 
dition of things, if true, gives to these regions a wonderful advantage in the 
e3'es of practical farmers no one will question, and of its truth a personal 
examination of the premises and the causes will satisfy the most skeptical. 
In support of this statement it may be said that there are indigenous to the 
section named above several jjlants of ver}' luxuriant growth that spring up 
wherever the ground is stirred. Ignoring all these exce[)t one, we cite 
what is commonly known as the Beggar weed. This plant comes 
. up in the corn fields, after the crop receives its last working, as 
thick as grain in a well-sown field. About the time the corn blades 
are stripped or " fodder pulled," as it is termed throughout the South, the 
Beggar weed is about knee high. It is now that the summer rains set reg- 
ularly in, and that the summer sun gets squarely down to business, and 
under their combined influence the growth of this Beggar weed beggars 
description. But by the end of August it stands about six feet high, as 
an average, all over the cultivated fields. The foliage is very dense and 
completely shades the ground during the long summer. This crop can, 
with a suitable plow, be entirely turned under. 

Estimate the bulk of a standing crop six feet higli and as thick as 
wheat, how many cords of compost would be an equivalent '/ 

If turned under green in August another crop springs up immediately, 
4 



50 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

for a sufficient quantity has by that time matured to seed the ground ; this 
second crop can again go under in October. Compare the I'eturn made by 
these two crops with the toll taken from the land in the corn crop, and 
determine on which side the balance stands. But the plowing in of a 
heavy green crop^in August involves heavy work on a team at a very hot 
time, besides making it necessary that the matured crop of corn shall be 
first removed, which, too, is a warm occupation for August. For these 
reasons it is the exception rather than the rule in Florida for this crop 
of weeds to be turned under at that time. The}' are left to die where they 
stand, and after shading the ground all summer — itself no mean equivalent 
for manuring — they throw down in the late fall a coat of leaves that quite 
covers the earth. After the first frost, the stems, which average about the 
size of an ordinary walking-cane or a man's finger, become exceedingly 
brittle and fracture readily under the headway of a team and the roll of the 
dirt from the mould-board. The ease with which they turn under would 
astonish one unaccustomed to them. Now that the summer sun is gone, 
the land turned over with this heavy crop of weed stems, which pulverize 
and soon rot, is not injured by the heat, but during the succeeding months 
of November and December grows as mellow as pie-crust, and begins the 
feeding of a crop in Januarj'^ with three times as much plant-food at its 
disposal as at the January preceding. This gives to the Florida farmer the 
advantage of growing his market crop and his fertilizing crop on the same 
ground, during the same 3'ear, with no additional cost of handling, no out- 
la}^ for seed and no loss of the use of the land. That this beggar weed is 
far superior to clover or pea vines as a renovator of land is the conviction 
of every intelligent farmer who has had an opportunity of comparing them. 
It has a long tap-root, goes into the sub-soil and brings up the salts, and 
yields naany fold more bulk than either of the other two. It is also a most 
excellent and nutritious feed for stock. Everything eats it. Horses 
turned into a corn field before the crup is gathered will greedil}^ devour the 
beggar weed and grow fat.fand leave the corn ears unmolested. 

The presence of this plant in Middle Florida has saved her lands from 
utter ruin under the shiftless and exhaustive system of farming to which 
they have been subjected since the war. And despite drawbacks that any- 
where else would have resulted in utter impoverishment, lands in that sec- 
tion that have been continuously under bungling cultivation for thirty and 
forty years have really'increased in fertility, and some of them will to-day 
produce as abundant crops as when covered with virgin soil immediately 
after being cleared. We feel confidence in saying that fertilizing of a high 
and permanent order can be more easily and cheaply accomplished in Flor- 
ida than anywhere else in America. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 51 



MANUFACTURINQ. 

As elsewhere in the South, Florida has heretofore given but a limited 
attention to the manufacturing of her raw materials. Capital, prior to the 
war, was confined chiefly to investments in lands, slaves, stock and agri- 
cultural interest. More recently the gradual influx of money, skill and 
experience from the North and West have begun to recognize the many 
natural advantages accruing to investments in manufacturing. The result of 
such experiments have been most satisfactory. Judging, among other evi- 
dences, from the great amount of earnest inquiry being made at present 
from outside sources, through the medium of this bureau, of the induce- 
ments offering for the investment of money in manufacturing, we are in- 
duced to rogard the establishment, in the very near future, of many manu- 
factories in different points in Florida as well assured. 

Much difficulty has attended the ac«iuisition of reliable and definite 
data on the subject of the different interests of this character in the State. 

There are two mills in the State where short cotton is being spun. One 
in Tallahassee, employing 33 hands and consuming about 360 bales of cot- 
ton per annum, and turning out weekly about 3,000 pounds of yarn, which 
is shipped to the Philadelphia market. Steam is used for driving the ma- 
chinery. Another at Mount Pleasant, in the county of G-adsden, where 
the •' Clement Attachment " is used. By the use of this machine tiie cot- 
ton is taken " in the seed," or as it comes from the fields before being ginned, 
and converted directly into j'arns. This mill has invested in machinery 
about $6,000 — in building and mill site, about $2,000. About 230,000 pounds 
of seed cotton per annum is here converted into yarns. The " Clement 
Attachment " can only be used for short staple cotton. One of the claims 
for this attachment is that it cuts the fibre less and makes a stronger thread 
than the old process. Neither of these factories convert the fibre into cloth, 
finding it more profitable to prepare 3-arns for Northern mills. 

The Gadsden county mill is driven by water power. Both companies 
consider their investment profitable. 

As at a number of points in Florida, tliere is water power which may 
be utilized, and will be, because cheaper than steam, and as a large part of 
the cotton crop of Florida is the long staple or Sea Island variety, which, 
for the most part, is converted into thread, we shall probably soon have 
factories in Florida for its manufacture. 

In the City of Jacksonville there is established a company engaged in 
manufacturing brushes, mattresses, mats and other household articles from 
the fibre of the cabbage palmetto, which abounds over so' large a part of 
the State. 

There is also in the City of Fernandina a company engaged in the 
manufacture of paper from parts of the leaf of the same plant. 



52 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

The manufacture of cigars has already become quite extensive. In the 
City of Key West alone there are eighty-one factories, turning out during 
the year 1881, 26,732,460 cigars and consuming 700,945 pounds of tobacco. 
The internal revenue tax upon these products for the year was $189,056. 
There are also many cigar factories in Jacksonville, and other points inland. 
One factory has recently been established in Tallahassee, and is now en- 
gaged in filling extensive orders for Chicago houses. 

Wherever along the lines of railroad occur extensive pine forest there 
are distilleries for the manufacture of spirits of turpentine. This is a very 
extensive and profitable industry, employing many hands, and adding largely 
to the freightage of the transportation lines. 

It so happens that the marsh pines, which grow on low, flat places, 
have more sap and larger tops, and produce a more abundant yield of crude 
turpentine. The price of turpentine, pitch, tar and resin is steadil}'^ advan- 
cing, and the number of distilleries increasing. The Collector's office, at 
Custom-house in Fernandina, reports as shipments of these products from 
that port for 1881 : Shipments of resin. 27,363 pounds, and of turpentine, 
275,540 barrels. 

Lime is made generally in Florida for home consumption. A.long the 
coast extensive shell banks occur, where the burning of lime is a matter of 
but small cost. Several companies are engaged at different places in its 
manufacture for shipment with profitable results. 

At such places in the State as investigation shall sliow the fossil lime 
stone to be richest in phosphoric properties, there will undoubtedly, at no 
distant day, be established mills suitable for grinding and putting the pro- 
ducts of these rocks on the markets as fertilizei-s. 

In Middle Florida, and wherelse the red-oak tree abounds, tan bark is 
abundant and cheap, and tanneries of some dimensions exist, from which 
excellent leather, in considerable quantities, is produced. 

The leading manufactured product of Florida, and the only branch of 
that industry of really imposing proportions, is 

SiAWET) YELLOW PINE 
from extensive saw-mills. There are said, in oflicial reports, to be more 
than 6,000,000,000 of feet of timber standing in Florida that can be con- 
verted into lumber. As the country is settled up, and the lands cleared, a 
great deal of this timber must be thus utilized immediately or lost. Ex- 
perimental test has already determined the timber from Florida to be the 
best upon the market, and the mills and shipments are increasing by a 
heavy percentage. Even Mexico and Central America are being supplied 
with cross-ties for their railroads from Florida pine. 

The shipments of lumber from Jacksonville are stated to be forty per 
cent, greater during the present year than for the same period during last 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 53 

year. We have been utterly unable, after every effort, to obtain statistics 
.of the amount of lumber handled at all the shipping points in the State^ 
but suppose the average increase throughout the State to be quite as great 
as at Jacksonville. 

By far the most important timber depot in Florida is the superb harbor 
of Pensacola. Here are to be found, at all seasons of the year, fleets of 
foreign shipping awaiting^cargoes from the many mammoth mills along the 
waters tributary to that port. By far the greater portion of timber sent to 
other countries from Florida is loaded at Pensacola. The completion, by 
the end of the present year, of the line of the Pensacola and Atlantic Rail- 
road from this great harbor to the Chattahoochee river, in Jackson county, 
will add extensively to Pensacola's lumber supply. The great forest of 
pine, through which the new road extends for 160 miles east of Pensacola, 
is, perhaps, the finest section of timber standing in the Southern States. 
Its inaccessibility heretofore has protected it from the inroads of the lum- 
bermen. Along this great artery will flow, in 1883, a stream of freightage 
for foreign bottoms at Pensacola that will swell her shipping list to gigantic 
proportions. No section of the South is now offering more attractive fields 
to the lumbermen for investments. With Pensacola at the western termi- 
nus of this line of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad, and through con- 
nection at Chattahoochee to Jacksonville and Fernandina over the Florida 
Central and Western Railroad system of Sir Edward Reed, together with 
cheap water transportation up the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers to points 
in Alabama and Georgia, and down the Apalachicola by raft or barge to 
deep water and foreign shipping at Apalachicola and Rio Carrabelle, it is 
difficult to estimate the extensive advantages to be enjoyed in that section 
by the mill men. 

As to the quality of the lumber from Florida, we extract a quotation 
made by Commissioner Adams in his pamphlet of ISt-S, from the New 
York Mercantile Journal : 

"Yellow pine flooring and step plank from Florida are in fair demand 
at $30 per thousand feet, while inferior lumber, made in North and South 
Carolina, moves slowly at from $23 to $25 per thousand. The yellow pine, 
so-called, growing in the Carolinas, is objectionable for many reasons. In 
the first place the tree is of a difierent and less enduring species, and has a 
greater proportion of sap-wood and black-knot ; and in the second place it 
is from those trees from which the manufacturers of pitch and turpentine 
get their material, thus depriving them of the ingredient upon which the 
durability and peculiar excellence of this kind of wood depends. Owners 
should always require in their specifications that the yellow pine to be used 
in first-class buildings should be of the growth of Florida." 

The quality of the Florida pine explains the demand for the lumber 
made of it. 



54 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil ayid Productions. 



A statement, purporting to be from official sources at Washington, 
puts the amount of merchantable timber standing in the forests of Florida 
at a little over 6,000,000,000 feet, board measure ; Alabama, 21,000,000,000 ; 
Mississippi at 22,000,000,000, and Texas at 66,000,000,000. Whatever may 
be the truth of this conjecture as to other States mentioned, it is, as we 
think, much too low an estimate for Florida. In an estimate recently pub- 
lished by the Census Bureau, the area of Florida is 58,680 square mles, or 
31 555 200 acres. It is certainly a low estimate to say that one-third of 
this area is covered with forest, which, if true, would amount to 12,518,400 
acres in timber. At a rate of 1,000 feet ot lumber per acre, and sometimes 
a single tree will make more, the sum would be 12,-518,400,000 feet — about 
double the estimate going the rounds of the papers. As good pine and 
other timber are large items in the world's industries, Florida should not 
permit herself to be under-estimated in this item of her wealth. 

The timber cut for the census j-ear ending May 31st, 1881, amounted 
to 208 054,000 feet — a little over 3 per cent, of the sum accredited to Florida 
in the estimate referred to. At this rate, in about 30 years, Florida would 
be cleared of her timber, but putting the true amount, as we suppose it to 
be, and it will supply the market at double that percentage for 30 years and 
more. This would be true even if there was no natural increase, but it is 
a fact familiar to lumbermen in Florida that less than 30 years is necessary 
to restore to land once cut over a new supply of mill stocks. Indeed, it 
has been authoritatively asserted by parties familiar with the premises that 
in the country tributary to Pensacola, even with her immense mill capacity, 
. the timber grows faster than it can be cut off. 

We append statistics of lumber shipments from the ports of Pensacola, 
Fernandina, Jacksonville and Cedar Keys for the terms designated in each 
case. 

Pensacola, for year ending October 31st, 1881 : 



DE.STIlSfATIOK. 


■A 

a; 

> 


Tonnage 


Hewn Timber, 
Cubic Feet. 


Sawn Timber. 
Cubic Feet. 


Lumber, 
Sup'l Feet. 


Great Britain 


346 

97 

6 

85 
130 


195.930 

55,336 

4,593 

33,083 

50.251 


3.669.703 

878.844 

5.565 

39,908 

39,366 


5,773.185 

756.888 

193.595 

19,343 


1.5,109.000 


Continent of Europe 

Java, Africa and Canaries. . 
W. Indies, S. America, &c . 


17.078.000 

395,000 

31,603.000 

34,073,000 




1 




Total. 


564 


339,191 


4,033,380 


6,743,010 


88,318,000 



Florida — Its Glimatf^ Soil and Productions. 55 

Fernandina, during year 1881, shipped 40,424,000 superficial feet, and 

for first four months of 1882 : 

Coastwise. Foreicjii. Total. 

January 2.9o4,000 1,414.000 4.3t)8,000 

February 1.972,000 2,310.000 4,282.000 

March..'; 3,585.000 1,753,000 5,338.000 

April 4.526,000 251,000 4,777,000 

Total 13,037,000 5.728,000 18,7(35,000 

Jacksonville, for year ending June 30, 1881, shipped 46,666,000 super- 
ficial feet, and from same port for ten mouths succeeding, 46,034,908 feet. 
Cedar Key, for year 1881, shipped 30,000,000 feet. 
For part of tlie above statistics the Commissioner has been indebted to 
Hon. Columbus Drew, Agent of Bureau at Jacksonville, to whom for this 
and much other valuable assistance in the preparation of this book the 
Commissioner takes this occasion to acknowledge an indebtedness. 



SPRINGS. 



Besides innumerable springs of ordinary characters and dimensions, 
sources of creeks and streams, as inother countries. Florida possesses a fea- 
ture in spring formation as novel in cliaracter as they are surpassingly beau- 
tiful in appearance. 

Tlie bursting of great rivers at one bound from the earth is the remark- 
able feature of some of Florida's fountains. 

Beneatii the surface of limestone formation underhnng the State num- 
erous rivers course towards the sea. In many places no evidence of them 
are observable until they rise to the surface tiirough great caverns or fis- 
sures in the limestone, often of wonderful depths. Most prominent 
among these is Silver Spring in Marion county, and the famous Wakulla 
Spring in the county of that name, fourteen miles south of Tallahassee. 
Thousands of visitors have seen the Silver Spring, upon which steam- 
boats enter. The Wakulla, being in a section heretofore less resorted to 
by winter visitors to Florida, is not so familiarly known. Both deserve de- 
scriptions our space will not admit of. Their great size, depth and trans- 
parency are their most striking features. Lying on the bottom of Wakulla 
Spring, 180 feet (so reported from actual measurement), below the surface, 
a dime piece can be as distinctly seen as through the atmosphere. Indeed, 
an object is even more plainly discernible than at the same distance through 
the air, as the boil of the waters gives them the conformation of a lense, 
and thus they acquire magnifying properties. 

Certainly no natural object can be more beautiful than the appearance 
of this great fountain, on a clear day, when no wind disturbs the face of its 
waters. 



56 Florida — It^ Climate, Soil and Productions. 

The Blue Springs of Volusia county, in South Florida, a little way east 
from St. Johns river, is thus described by a writer in the Florida, of Janu- 
ary, 1882 : 

" There is a basin 70 feet in diameter and about 40 feet in depth. A 
huge bowl, from the centre of which a column of blue-tinted water presses 
upward with such force that the centre of the surface is convex to the ex- 
tent of perhaps ten inches, and it is impossible to put or keep a boat on 
this summit, such is the force of the hydraulic pressure upward and latter- 
ally. This stream, which this gigantic spring feeds, is about 50 feet wide, 
and an average depth of 10 feet, with a current of about fiv^e miles an hour. 
The scenery about this locality is beautiful and picturesque in the extreme, 
and worth a long journey to sec." 

There are many such springs to be found in different parts of Florida. 
They are all subterranean rivers up to the points where they break forth. 
They all contain lime enough to precipitate any sediment or discoloring 
matter, leaving the water perfectly clear. Fish of many sorts and sizes are 
seen gamboling in their sports or gliding about through the waters seeking 
their food. The ripples on the surface refract the rays of the sun, when at 
the proper angle, and give the varied colors of the rainbow, and lend a sort 
of enchantment to the view. 

There are also mineral springs in several parts of the State, whose wa- 
ters, as tested in a large number of instances, have curative properties, and 
are the resort of invalids. Of this class are the Newport Springs on St. 
Marks river, in Wakulla county, the Hampton Springs of Taylor, the 
White Sulphur Springs of Hamilton, the Suwannee Springs of Suwannee, 
and the Green Cove Springs of Clay. 

Persons afflicted with rheumatism, dyspepsia and diseases of the liver 
have met with very remarkable cures from drinking and bathing in the wa- 
ters of these springs. 

In the midst of the rich palm-grown forest surrounding the Wakulla 
.Spring a prominent Cincinnati physician has recently purchased and is 
erecting a sanitarium for winter patients. 



LANDS 



In an official publication from the Census Bureau, setting forth the 
area of the States and Territories, the gross area of the State of Florida is 
put down at 58,680 square miles. Coast waters, bays, gulfs and sounds, 
1,800 square miles; rivers and smaller streams, 390 square miles; lakes 
and ponds, 2,250 square miles ; whole water surface is 4,440 square miles, 
leaving of land surface 54,240 square miles, or 34,713,600 acres. In the 
report of the Commissioner of Lands and Immigration of the State of Flor- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 57 

ida, of January Ist, 1875, the amount of private land claims confirmed by 
the United States is stated to be 3,784,303, leaving as the amount of land in 
the territory not disposed of to pi'ivate parties at the time of the cession, 
30,929,297. 

By act of Congress of March 23, 1823, an entire township in each 
of the districts of East and West Florida, to be selected by the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, were '" reserved for the use of a seminary of learn- 
ing." 

By act of May 24, 1824. a ciuarter section of land was given for the 
Seat of Grovernment. 

By act of 3d of March, 1845, Florida was admitted as a State into the 
Union ; and by the same act eight sections of land were given to the State 
for the purpose of " fixing the Seat of Government." Also the sixteenth 
section of eveiy township, or its equivalent, " for the use of the inhabitants 
of such township for public schools." Also two entire townships, in addi- 
tion to the two already reserved, for two seminaries of learning, one east, 
the other west, of the Suwannee river, and five per cent, of the net proceeds 
of the sale of public lands for the purposes of education. Also by an act 
of the same date, 3d of March, 1845, 500,000 acres were given for purposes 
of internal improvement. 

By an act of 28th of September, 1850, '' ail the swamp lands and lands 
subject to overflow were given to the State. 

By an act of July 2d, 1862, the several States were granted for col- 
leges of agriculture and the mechauic arts, 30,000 acres for each Senator 
and Representative that the said States were respectively entitled to under 
the census of 1860. 

The Commissioner of Lands and Immigration of Florida, in his report 

of -January. 1881, thus states the whole amount of the swamp lands and 

lands subject to overflow, selected and patented to tlie State, to be : 

Total patents received 14.442,464 acres. 

Quantity disposed of by the State up to time of report 1.684,725 acres. 

Leaving- at that time on hand 12.757.739 acres. 

On the first day of June. 1881, the State Board of Internal Improve- 
ment effected a sale to Hamilton Disston. of Philadelphia, of 4,000,000 
acres of swamp and overflowed lands for the sum of $1,000,000, thus ena- 
bling the board to relieve these lands of liens, with which they had 
*- thi^efore been embarrassed, and to stop an annually accruing interest of 
nearly $50,000. One-half of this 4,000,000 purchase was subsequently sold 
by the vendee to Sir Edward Reed, acting in the interest of British and 
Dutch capitalists. 

These large land-holders are busily engaged in arranging railroads and 
canals for making their lands accessible and for increasing their value. 
The sale of these State lands from the first of January, 1881, to May 1st, 



58 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

1882, beside the sale to Disston, as shown by the books of the Commis- 
sioner of Lands, amount to 296,514 acres. This number of acres, and the 
4,000,000 to Disston, subtracted from the 12,759,735 acres leaves 8,461,160 
acres of the " swamp and overflowed " lands still belonging to the State at 
that date. The location of these State lands, as their name suggests, are 
confined to comparatively loiv sections of the State. They are largely con- 
fined to the southern portion of the peninsula, but are to be found in small 
bodies scattered in almost every township in Florida. 

By an act of the State Legislature of January 6, 1855, the 500,000 
acres of land granted to the State by act of Congress of March 3d, 1845, 
then remaining unsold, also the swamp lands and lands subject to overflow, 
granted to the State by act of Congress of the 28th of September, 1850, 
were set apart as an internal improvement fund, and vested in the Gov- 
ernor of the State, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the State Treas- 
urer, the Attorney-General, and Register of State Lands, and their succes- 
sors in office, as trustees of said fund. Under this act of the 6th of Janu- 
ary, 1855, for " giving encouragement and aid for the building of rail- 
roads," the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund were authorized to 
endorse the bonds of railroad companies of certain prescribed lines upon 
certain prescribed conditions, to the extentof $10,000 per mile; for the sum 
of $8,000 per mile, (when the grading was completed and the cross-ties put 
down for twenty miles,) for the purchase of |iron, spikes, &c., and when the 
iron rails were put down, then for the additional sum of $2,000 per mile 
for the purchase of necessary equipments. And after the first twent\' miles 
shall be comjtleted, then for every ten miles there shall be a like endorse- 
ment. 

Under this Internal Improvement Act the bonds so issued and en- 
dorsed were a first lien or mortgage upon the road bed, equipments, work- 
shops and franchises for the payment of said bonds, as against said railroad 
companies, and was a lien upon the Internal Improvement Fund only for 
the annually accruing interest upon said bonds. 

Upon the failure (as subsequently occurred) of the said several rail- 
road companies to pay the accruing interest upon said bonds semi-annually, 
and one per cent, upon them for a sinking fund, the Trustees of the Inter- 
nal Improvement Fund were authorized, after thirty days from said default, 
to take possession of the road of such defaulting company, to sell the same 
and apply the pi'oceeds to the purchasing and cancelling the bonds of the 
said defaulting company. 

A number of the railroad companies which took the benefit of the In- 
ternal Improvement Act, and issued bonds with the endorsement of the 
said Trustees, failed to make their stipulated payments of interest and one 
per cent, for a sinking fund. Under the provision of the statute in such 
cases, the roads were sold, but for prices not sufficient to pay the outstand- 



Florida — 7^^^ Climate^ Soil and Productions.^ 59 

ing bonds of these several roads. The Commissioner of Lands, in his re- 
port of January 1, 1881, says: As well as can be ascertained the out- 
standing bonds of said companies are as follows : 

Bonds of Pensacola and Georgia R. R. C"o $387,^0 

Bonds of Tallahassee R. R. Co 52,90 

Bonds of Florida R. R. Co 238,000 

Bonds of F. A. and Gulf Central R. R. Co 31,00 

Total $699,600 

The annually accruing interest on this amount is about $48,980. The 
whole amount of indebtedness which has already accrued against the Inter- 
nal Improvement Fund tor interest, as aforesaid, is not less than $600,000. 

As before stated, this amount of indebtedness for accrued interest is a 
lien upon the lands of the Internal Improvement Fund, but both the bonds 
and the interest must be paid before these lands will be relieved of em- 
barrassment, for while the bonds are outstanding the interest will continue 
to accrue. 

On the first day of June, 1881, the State Board of Internal Improve- 
ment effected a sale to Hamilton Disston, of Philadelphia, of 4,000,000 of 
acres of the swamp and overflowed lands for the sum of $1,000,000, thus 
enabling the board, in whole or in part to relieve these lands of the liens 
with which the}' had been embarrassed, and to stop the annually accruing 
interest of nearly $50,000. 

There is another fund which will come into the hands ,of the said trus- 
tees, which can be applied to the payment of these bonds and interest, if 
the receipts from the Disston purchase should not be sufficient. On the 
sale of the railroad from Lake City to Quincy, and its branches, the pur- 
chasers failed in payment of part of the purchase money to the amount of 
$463,175, and there is interest on this sum from the 20th of March, 1869, at 
8 per cent, per annum, which interest up to the 20th of March, 1882, to- 
gether with the principal, makes the sum of $944,871. 

Under a decree of the 31st of May, 1879, of Justice Bradley of the 
Circuit Court of the United States, before whom the question was brought, 
the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund have a first lien for this 
unpaid purchase money, upon this road from Lake City to Quincy, and 
from Tallahassee to St, Marks, and branch to Monticello, and if the money 
is not paid by or some time during the mouth of July, 1882, the United 
States Marshal is required to sell said road for the payment of said pur- 
chase for the satisfaction of said lien. 

It appears from the books of the Commissioner of State Lands that the 
sale of the swamp and overflowed lands from the first day of January, 1881, 
to the first day of May, 1882, to other purchasers than Disston, a.L:Ount to 
296,574 acres. This added to the 4,000,000 sold to Disston makes 4,296,- 
574 acres, which amount taken from the 12,759,729 acres, heretofore shown 



60 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Prodioctions. 

as belonging to the State January 1st, 1881, leaves 8,461,165 acres of the 
swamp and overflowed lands on May 1st, 1882. There are in Florida other 
swamp and overflowed lands, not selected and patented to the State, but 
under the act of Congress have vested in the State Grovernment. The 
probable amount of these, it is estimated, will be about 2,000,000 acres. Of 
the 500,000 acres granted to the State March 3, 1845, by Congress for In- 
ternal Improvements, about 183,000 acres remain unsold and subject to en- 
try in the State Land Office. 

Besides the rioht of way and the alternate sections within a six-mile 
limit that have been granted to railroad companies by the legislature of the 
State, and withdrawn from market by the Board of Internal Improvement 
as the several roads have complied with the conditions of their charters, 
there is a further bonus granted of other land per mile of finished road. 

The names of the railroad companies, the length of their proposed 

roads, and the number of acres to be given additionally to the alternate 

sections within a six-mile limit are as follows : 

,T J. ^1 ,. Leiu/th of Wo. of Acres rr ^ ? 

mime of Corporation. Boad. Per Mile. ^^*'^^- 

Oranye Ridne and De Land Railroad 28 miles 5,000' 140,000 

Florida Sonthern Railroad and Branches 370 miles 10,000 3,700,000 

Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad 380 miles 10,000 3,800,000 

Palatka and Indian River Railroad 75 miles 6,000 450,000 

Tropical Peninsula Railroad 1(50 miles 10,000 1.600.000 

Silver Spring and Ocala Railroad 40 miles 10,000 400,000 

Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad 160 miles 30,000 3,300,000 

Florida 3Iidland and Georgia 50 miles 600 300,000 

Total 1,363 miles 13,590,000 

In some of the above roads the distance is not stated in the charters 
granted by the Legislature, or in the articles of association filed under the 
general act of incorporation, but in those instances the distance is under 
rather than overstated above. The fact that the amount of the lands will 
be exhausted before all these premiums can be met will probably be a stim- 
ulus to industry in building, and, in the meantime, these lands are not 
pledged in such way as to prevent sales by the State to persons applying 
to purchase or homestead the same. 

In the act of Congress granting swamp and overflowed lands to the 
several States of the Union in which they lie, it is stated that as much of 
them as may be necessary for draining and reclaiming them, is to be ap- 
propriated for that purpose. To carry out this express purpose of the 
grant, the Internal Improvement Board have contracted to give to the 
Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Company, one-half 
the lands they reclaim in the section of the State lying south of township 
26 in the several ranges, and east of Peace creek. Of the four townships 
granted by Congress for the uses of the East and West Florida Seminaries, 
there remains to be sold about 34,000 acres, as shown by the records of the 



Florid/1 — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 61 

Land Commissioner. There have been funded of the original grant $98,000, 
the interest arising from which is for the use of the said seminaries. 

The lands granted by Congress to the several States hy the act of July 
2, 1862, for the establisliraent of colleges of agriculture, have been disposed 
of in Florida, and the proceeds funded amounting to $125,600. 

By supplementary act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1845, every 

sixteenth section of land in each township, or its equivalent, is given to 

the State for the use of 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Taking the land surface of the State, as stated on a previous page, at 
54,240 square miles, and adding the water surface of rivers and small 
streams, 390,000 square miles, and the surface of inland lakes and ponds, 
2,250 square miles, we have 56,880 square miles, or 36,403,200 acres, from 
which take the sum of private land claims existing at the time of cession 
to the United States, and since recognized, amounting to 3,784,600, and we 
have left 32,618,600 acres, one thirty-sixth part of which, amounting to 
906,072 acres, accrues to the benefit of public schools. 

But since the United States are allowing equivalents in other lands 
where a part or the whole of a 16th section is at the bottom of rivers or 
under the sea, the question whether a liberal construction of the law giving 
equivalents for deficient or missing 16th sections would not apply to lands 
to which private parties had already acquired title before the cession to the 
United States may arise, as in the " Forbes' Purchase " for instance. Thus 
far there has been no occasion which has brought this question before the 
proper department at Washington, nor before the courts ; but since the 
question involves more than 100,000 acres of land for schools, a subject for 
which all in authority are now disposed to be liberal, the writer thinks it 
worthy of consideration. 

The Land Commissioner estimates the amount of school land yet un- 
sold at 570,000 acres — the amount of these for eacli county can l)e found 
under that head in the description of each county, it is proper to remark 
that the above amount includes no allowance for such 16th sections as lie 
in unsurveyed territory, nor for lands selected as equivalents for deficient 
16th sections. 

Of the school lands already sold, and the proceeds funded, the proceeds 
amount lo $248,900, only the interest of which can be distributed among 
the counties. 

Xo inquiry occurs oftener in the correspondence of this bureau than 
that as to where 

VACANT UNITED STATES AND STATE LANDS ARE TO BE FOUND, 
and how parties can procure maps or charts indicating what lands in Florida 
are still subject to entry or purchase. The utter inability of the Commis- 



62 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

sioner of Immigration to answer such an inquiry, or to supply such a map, 
or even to suggest how much or what particular land is still vacant in any 
one county or another, has occasioned serious inconvenience. That the 
public may see that this arose not from neglect upon his part, the Commis- 
sioner of Immigration addressed a letter officially to the Commissioner of 
Lands, the Hon. P. W. White, at Tallahai^ee, asking to be informed of the 
amount of the overdowed and swamp lands, of the amount of Seminary 
lands, and of the amount of public school lands in each county remaining 
unsold up to some recent date. He also addressed a letter co the Hon. L. 
A. Barnes, Register of Lands for the United States, at Grainesville, asking 
for the amount of United States lands in each county remaining unsold up 
to some recent date. Their replies are appended to show that the informa- 
t ion our correspondents inquired for was not within our reach : 

Office of Commissioner of Lands and Immigration, | 
Tallahassee, Fla., June 21st, 1882. j 

Hon. A. A. Robinson, Gommissioner of Iminigration, Tallahassee, Fla.: 

Dear Sir — In reply to your letter of the 28th of May last, I have the 
honor to state that it would require several months' time for the clerical 
force in this office, in addition to their present duties, to prepare the state- 
ment you request of the amount of swamp and overflowed and internal 
improvement lands which remain unsold in each county of this State. A 
very large portion of the swamp and overflowed lands which were patented 
to the State have been sold or disposed of by legislative grants to various 
corporations. The selections under the sale to Mr. Disston have not yet 
been completed, but will be soon. This will take four millions of acres, 
extending; over a vast area of the State. It is estimated that the grant of 
the alternate sections within the six-mile limit, and the additional grant of 
twenty thousand acres to the mile, made to the Peusacola and Atlantic 
Railroad Company, will amount to about three million acres. Ten thou- 
sand acres to the mile, in addition to the alternate sections within the six- 
mile limit, have been granted to man}^ other railroad companies. To these 
must be added large grants to canal and drainage companies — all of which 
will aggregate several millions of acres more. Should all of the corpora- 
tions to which grants have been made under the State legislation complete 
their several works, ver}^ little, if any, of the swamp and overflowed lands 
granted to the State will remain subject to entry in this office. This, how- 
ever, is a contingency to be determined in the future, and depends upon the 
ability and determination of the corporations claiming these grants to com- 
plete their works. However this may result, I think you might assure all 
persons wishing to make homes in the State that the lands which may be 
acquired by various corporations under grants from the State, as well as 
those purchased by Mr. Disston and others, will be for sale ; and I have no 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 63 

doubt they will find it to their interest to sell to actual settlers at fair or 
moderate prices. They doubtless will compete with each other in induce- 
ments held out to immigrants for settlement of their lands. Thus the large 
capital and many agencies brought into active operation will be most pow- 
erful auxiliaries to your bureau in swelling the tide of immigration now 
so strongly setting into this State, and will hasten its development and 
establish a condition of unprecedented prosperity. 

Of the five hundred thousand acres of land granted to the State for 
internal improvement purposes by act of Congress of March 3d, 1S45, there 
remains unsold about one hundred and eighty-three thousand acres, about 
five hundred and seventy thousand acres of school land, and about 
thirt3'-four thousand acres belonging to the seminary fund. These aoo-re- 
gate about seven hundred and eighty-eight thousand acres, and are located 
in all sections of the State. Some of them are considered the best lands 
in the State, and all subject to entry in this office. 

Very respectfully, 

P. W. White, 
Commissioner of Lands and immio-ration. 



United States Land Office, ), 

Gainesville, Fla., .May 29, 1882. j 

A. A. Eobinson. Esq., Conimissioner of Tinmigration, Tallahassee, Fla.: 

Sir — In repl}^ to yours of May 28, 1882, would advise you that it will 
be impossible to give the information asked for — have over 1,000 township 
plats in the office. To answer your question would require weeks or even 
months of work. Private parties are continually writing here asking such 
questions. Our answer is township diagrams, showing all the vacant United 
States land in any township of the State, furnished for $1 — the State land 
also shown on same diagram. The status of any section called for given 
promptly and without charge. Should be happy to accommodate you if 
we could. Mr. Wombwell, of Tallahassee, was here about two months get- 
ting entries in onlv two or three counties. He could probablv give you an 
idea of the work you have asked for. 

Respectfully, 

L. A. Barnes, Register. 



HOW TO PROCURE LAND IN FLORIDA. 

United States lands still vacant in Florida are subject to entry by land 
warrants, by purchase, and by homestead entrj'. Such lands are to be found 
in almost every township in the State. In the older settlements, where 
transportation facilities have been long enjoyed, and the lands are of good 



64 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



quality, very little, if any, vacant land can be found. All inquiries as to 
United States lands should be addressed to L. A. Barnes, Register United 
States Land Office, Gainesville, Florida. 

The State Land Office, with Hon. P. W. White as Commissioner, is at 
Tallahassee. All inciuiries as to vacant State lands should be made to hira. 
Such a map as is so often asked for, showing the location of all vacant land 
in the State, was never published by any State, and would be quite impracti- 
cable, since daily entries would require a daily revision of the map to make 
it accurate. Indeed, we would advise intending purchasers to rely solely 
on their personal inspection of land in selecting locations. First find a 
piece of land that suits j^ou, then ascertain to whom it belongs, and whether 
public or private land, secure it by purchase. The State lands are to be 
found scattered everywhere. Like the United States lands, few State lands 
of any value or desirable quality are left in sections of the country where 
land is good, settlements old, and agriculture has been pursued for any 

length of time. |^ 

PRICES OF STATE L.VNDS. 

School lands and Seminary lands are subject to entry at their appraised 
value, not less than $1.25 per acre. The larger portion of these lands is 
held at $1.25 per acre, but some tracts are valued as high as $7. Payment 
may be made in United States currency or State scrip. 

Internal Improvement lands generally $1.25 per acre, none less; some 
as high as $6.50 per acre. 

Summp lands— fov forty acres — $1 per acre, for more than forty and 
not exceeding eighty acres, 90 cents per acre. For more than eighty and 
not exceeding two hundred acres, 80 cents per acre. For more than 200 
and not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, 75 cents per acre. For 
more than six hundred and forty acres, 70 cents per acre. 

In case of entries of land at less than $1 per acre, the land must not 
be in detached pieces, but must lie in a body. 

For Internal Improvement and Swamp lands nothing is receivable in 
payment except United States currency. 

Terms of sale in all cases cash. 

Lands cannot l)e reserved from sale for tlie benefit of anj^ applicant. 
An application not accompanied with the full amount of purchase money 
does not give any priority. 

But b\- act of March 7, 1881, " actual settlers upon an^' of the public 
lauds of this State may enter the lands upon which they reside or have in 
cultivation, not to exceed 160 acres, to be taken in compact form according 
to the legal subdivisions, at the prices now or hereafter to be established 
for such lands, by paying one-third the purchase money at the time of the 
entry, one-third of the same within two years thereafter, and the remaining 
one-third within three vears after the date of entrv." 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 65 

By act of 16th February, 18T2, the right of homestead is given on the 
overflowed and swamp lands. 

" Section 6. Any person who is the head of a family, or who has ar- 
rived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, 
or who shall have filed his declaration of an intention to become such, as 
required b^-the laws of the United States, shall, from and after the first day 
of April, be entitled to enter one quarter section, or a less quantity of the 
unsold swamp and overflowed lands granted to the State of Florida by act 
Congress, approved 28th day of September, 1850. Any person owning or 
residing on land may, under the provisions of sections six to thirteen of 
this chapter, enter other lands contiguous to his or her said land, which 
shall not, with the lands so already owned and occupied, exceed in the ag- 
gregate 160 acres. 

" Section 7. The person applying for the benefit of section six shall 
file with the Commissioner of Lands his or her affidavit that he or she is 
the head of a family, or is twenty-one years or more of age, and that such 
application is made for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that the 
said entry is made for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and 
not directly or indirectly for the use and benefit of any other person or 
persons whatsoever, and upon filing said aflidavit with the Commissioner 
of Lands, and upon paj'ment of ten dollars where the entry is more than 
eighty acres, and of five dollars when the entry is not of more than eiglity 
acres, he or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the amount of land 
specified ; Provided^ hoiveuer^ that no deed shall issue therefor until the 
expiration of five years from the date of such entry ; and if at the expira- 
tion of such time, or an}' time within two 3^ears thereafter the person mak- 
ing such entry, or, if he be dead, his widow, or, in case of her death, his 
heirs or devisees, or, in case of a widow making such entry, her heirs or 
devisees, in case of her death, shall prove by two credible witnesses that 
he, she or they have reclaimed said lands b}^ means of levees and drains, 
and resided upon and cultivated the same for the term of five years imme- 
diately succeeding the time of flliug the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make 
aflSdavit that no part of said laud has been alienated ; then, in such case, 
he, she or they shall be entitled to a deed." 



< 



RAILROAD LANDS. 

The lands of the Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Railroad Com- 
pany have been heretofore estimated by my predecessor at 650,000 acres. 
They are the alternate sections, within the six-mile limit, along the line of 
said road from Fernandina to Cedar Key. They are oflered by the company 
at $1.25 per acre, with free transportation over tha road to purchasers with 
5 



66 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

their families and effects. Ttie same authority puts down the lands of the 
Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad Company at 200,000 acres. 

The i-ecent purchase by Sir Edward Reed and associates of these two 
roads, together with the line and franchises of the Florida Central Railroad 
Company from Jacksonville to Lake City, and also the acquisition by the 
same syndicate of 2,000,000 acres from Mr, Hamilton Disston, has put into 
the hands of the proprietors an immense amount of land in Florida of al- 
most every quality, and located in almost every part of the State. The 
management and disposition of this great landed interest is vested in the 
land department of the company under the direction of Hugh A. Corle}^, 
late Co;mmissioner of State lands, who can be addressed at Jacksonville, 
Florida. Mr. Corley's knowledge and experience in connection with lands 
in Florida peculiarly fit him for the conduct of the affairs of this great 
company, and the great diversity in quality and location of the lands under 
his control and at his disposition will enable him to meet the wants of al- 
most any character of purchaser. Those desiring more detailed informa- 
tion of the whereabouts, character, prices, &c., of these lands ar-e respect- 
fully referred to him. 

THE PENSACOLA AND ATLANTIC RAILROAD COMPANY, 
in their first report published in the Pensacola Commercial^ of the lands to 
be theirs upon the completion of their road, put them down thus : 

In alternate sections from the State 55,000 

In alternate sections from the United States 633,600 

In the bonus of 20.000 acres per mile from the State for 160 miles 3,200,000 

Making in the aggregate 3,888,600 

Of this amount, the 688,600 acres of alternate sections. State and 
United States, will of course be exclusively west of the Apalachicola river, 
or along the line of the road. Of the 3,200,000 acres obtained by way of 
bonus from the State, much the larger poi'tion will have to be taken in 
other parts of the State, since owing to the high and dry character of the 
country of West Florida the amount of swamp and overflowed lands in 
that section is limited. This road will be completed and in operation by 
the end of the year, and will make the connecting link in the lireat trunk 
line of communication from New Orleans in the most direct line to deep 
water on the Atlantic seaboard. It will open up and rapidl}^ develop that 
large portion of Florida lying south of the State of Alabama and hereto- 
fore inaccessible. The chai-acter of the railroad lands in that section is for 
a good part of a high order. We are not advised of the prices at which 
they are to be offered to settlers, but refer for such information to W. D. 
Chipley, Vice-President of the company, at Pensacola, Florida. 

THE FLORIDA SOUTHERN RAILWAY 
is entitled to 900,000 acres of land by way of a bonus in addition to the 
alternate sections along their line from Gainesville to Palatka and from 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 67 

Gainesville to Oeala. We are not advised as to what disposition is being 
immediately made of the lands of this company. Lying, as many of them 
will, in the heart of the " Orange belt " of the State, the demand for them 
is doubtless considerable. Dr. E. S. Francis, of Palatka, is Vice-President 
of the company, and C. A. Boardman, of the same place, is in charge of 
itsjand affairs. To these gentlemen we refer parties desiring further in- 
formation. 

THE SOUTH FLORIDA RAILROAD 

is another company, which, having completed the construction of its road, 
has, under the charter, lands to be disposed of. The amount of these lands 
we are not familiar with ; they will be comprised in the alternate sections, 
six-mile limit, along the line of the road from Sanford, on Lake Monroe, to 
Kissimmee City, on Lake Tohopekaliga, at the head of navigation on Kis- 
simmee river. James E. Ingraham, of Sanford, Florida, is the President of 
the company, and to him we refer inquiries of those lands. 

THE FLORIDA LAND IMPROVEMENT COMPANY. 

The 4,000,000 of acres of land sold by the State to Mr. Hamilton Diss- 
ton, of Philadelphia, were selected principally from the counties of Her- 
nando, Sumter, Orange, Volusia, Hillsborough, Polk and Manatee by par- 
ties familiar with this territory. The^- extend entirely across the middle 
portion of the peninsula, and from north to south some two hundred miles. 
They are intermixed in their location with State lands, United States lands, 
and those of private parties. In his sale to Sir Edward Reed, Mr. Disston 
reserved the privilege of selecting first 2,000,000 acres, and surrendering the 
remaining 2,000,000 to Sir Edward Reed. The portion reserved by Mr. 
Disston is now held by the Florida Land Improvement Company. This 
company is made up mainly of Philadelphia capitalists. The central office 
is located at Jacksonville, Florida, with A. P. K. Safford, ex-Governor of 
Arizona, as Land Commissioner. This company has also resident local 
agents in each of the before-named counties. Prices generally from $1 to 
$2 per acre. These lands are well suited to orange-culture and to the pro- 
duction of vegetables. They are furnished wiih trausportation facilities on 
the east by the St. Johns river, and the South Florida Railroad 
connecting that river with the navigable waters of the Kissimmee. The 
Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad proposes to run through the 
centre, and the Grand Trunk Road, recently purchased by Sir Edward 
Reed, from Fernandina and Jacksonville, down the peninsula, runs through 
the western portion. Additionally to this there is a lake communication 
connecting with the St. Johns river by the Lake Eustis and St. Johns Rail- 
road and the Ocklawaha river. 

THE SAN ANTONIO COLONY. 

Mr. Disston, after making his purchase of Florida lands, engaged the 
Hon. E. F. Dunne, ex-Chief Justice of Arizona, to visit Florida and super- 



68 Florida — Its Glirtiate, Soil and Productions. 

vise the taking out of his title deeds. Whereupon Judge Dunne made se- 
lection of 50,000 acres of the Disston purchase in the neighborhood of 
Clear lake, near Fort Dade in Hernando county, for the establishment of a 
Catholic colony, with the approval of Dr. Moore, the Catholic Bishop of 
Florida, who has appointed a priest for the colony. Judge Dunne resides 
on these lands ; his address is Fort Dade, Florida. 

The 2,000,000-acre purchase of Sir Edward Reed of the Disston lands, 
being located among the Disston lands, have the same climatic and trans- 
portation facilities. 

THE ATLANTIC AND GULF COAST CxlNAL AND OKEECHOBEE LAND 

COMPANY 

was chartered in 1881. By the terms of a contract with the Board of In- 
ternal Improvement of the State, this company receives one-half of all State 
land reclaimed by draining in that part of the State south of 28 degrees, 15 
minutes north, and east of Peace creek. This area will cover about 8,000,- 
000 of acres, much the greater part of which has vested in the State under 
the swamp and overflowed land act, &c. This company are also chartered 
to construct canals and other lines of transportation. They own, by pur- 
chase, franchises for construction of 330 miles of steamboat canal along the 
east coast of Florida, connecting Matanzas, Halifax river, and Mosquito 
inlet with Indian river and I^ake Worth, and also a franchise for connect- 
ing Lake Tohopekaliga with Kissimmee river. The company have already 
constructed dredge boats and steam tenders. One boat is engaged in cut- 
J ^7 ting a canal-S^feet wide by 5i deep, due east from the head of Lake Flirt 
to Okeechobee. Another dredge will immediately commence work cutting 
through from Lake Tohopekaliga to Cypress, and from Cypress to Kis- 
simmee. 

Thg permanent lowering of the surface of Lake Okeechobee will, it is 
estimated, reclaim several hundred thousand acres of land, and these lands, 
owing to their semi-tropical location, it is believed will be superior for the 
production of sugar to any land in the United States. Samuel H. Gray is 
President ; Wm. Brindel, Secretary ; James M. Kreamer, General Superin- 
tendent ; office at Jacksonville, Florida. 

CATALOGUE OF RAILROADS CHARTERED. 

Only the roads of those companies are marked upon the map that had 
filed plats of their roads in the office of the Commissioner of Lands, and as 
no such plats were filed of any of the canals chartered none of them are 
marked on the map. 

Fernandina and Jacksonville Railroad. — From a point on the Atlan- 
tic, Gulf and West India Transit Road to Jacksonville, through Nassau 
and Duval counties ; length 21 miles ; completed 21 miles. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 69 

East Florida Railway — From Jacksonville to Calico Hill, on St. 
Marys river, Nassau county ; completed 42 miles. 

Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railroad. — Incorpor- 
ated by act of Legislature February 28, 1881 ; alternate sections of State 
lands ; length 80 miles; completed 11 miles. \ 

St. Johns Railroad. — By act of December 31st, 1858 ; from St. Johns 
river to St. Augustine ; right of way 400 feet on each side of track, with 
alternate sections of State lands ; capital stock $100,000; length 18 miles, tovn^duf 

Atlantic, St. Johns and Indian River Railroad. — From St. Augustine 
to Falatka, thence to Indian river, through the counties of St. Johns, Put- 
nam, Volusia and Brevard. Articles of incorporation filed October 24th, 
1881 ; capital stock $2,000,000 ; length 200 miles. 

Seville and Halifax River Railroad. — From Seville, east side of Lake 
George, Volusia county, to Ormond, on Halifax river. Articles filed Jan- 
uary 7, 1882 ; now building, of road and branches, 50 miles ; capital 
stock $50,000. 

Orange Ridge, DeLand and Atlantic Railroad. — Now building ; length 
28 miles ; right of way with alternate sections of State lands, and bonus of 
5,000 acres per mile of finished road from DeLand landing on the St. Johns 
river, to the Atlantic coast, or to Daytona, New Smyrna or some navigable 
stream flowing into Mosquito inlet. By act of 1881 ; capital stock 
$150,000. 

Palatka and Indian River Railroad. — Now building ; length 75 miles ; 
right of way 60 feet wide each side of road ; alternate sections and bonus 
of 6,000 acres per mile ; from Palatka to Ajisi^m^ Volusia county, touch- 
ing on Mosquito lagoon ; by act of 4th March, 1881. - u.tanf C^X 

Sanford and Indian River Railroad. — Length 30 miles ; filed Febru- 
ary 6, 1881 ; capital stock $150,000 ; from Sanford, Orange county, to Titus- 
ville, Brevard county. 

Lake Monroe and Lake Jessup Railroad — Length 20 miles ; from Lake 
Monroe to Lake Jessup, Orange county ; articles filed July 4th, 1881 ; capi- 
tal stock $100,000. 

St. Johns and Halifax River Railroad.— ^o^f building; length 45 
miles; from Rollestoun, in Putnam county, to New Brittain, Volusia 
county; articles filed December 12th, 1881 ; capital stock $100,000. 

Palatka and Sanford Railroad. — From Palatka, through Marion 
county, to Sanford ; articles filed December 19th, 1881 ; capital stock 
$20,000 ; length 80 miles. 

Indian River Central Railroad. — From Enterprise, Volusia county, 
to Titusville, Brevard county ; articles filed December 28th, 1881 ; length 
40 miles. 



J 



to Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

Jacksonville and Palatka Railroad. — From Jacksonville, through Du- 
val, Clay and Putnana, to Palatka; articles filed February 11th, 1881 ; cap- 
ital stock $2,000,000 ; length 65 miles. 

The Great Southern Railroad. — From Millen, Gra., through Nassau, 
Duval, St. Johns, Volusia, Brevard, Dade and Monroe, to Key West ; arti- 
cles filed 10th of April, 1876; capital stock $14,000,000; consolidated 
length 360 miles. 

South Florida Railroad. — From Sanford, on St. Johns river, Orange 
county, to Orlando, Tohopekaliga, thence to Bartow, Polk county, thence 
to Tampa, Hillsborough county ; length 150 miles ; completed from Sanford 
to Tohopekaliga, 40 miles; articles filed October 16, 1881. 

St. Johns and Lake Eustis Railroad From St. Johns river, near Lake 

George, to Lake Eustis, Orange county; by act of 20th February, 1879, 
but articles filed February 21st, 1875; capital stock , |10,0,000 ; right of 
way and alternate sections ; length 25 miles. XUri'nyiCL'<f.^-{^J^ 

Orange Belt Railroad. — Articles filed 24th March, 1882 ; capital stock 
$1,300,000 ; from Lake Eustis, Orange county, to a point at or near Apopka, 
thence to a point at or near Orlando, thence to a point at or near Tohope- 
kaliga, thence to a point at or near Eau Gallie, in Brevard county ; length 
130 miles. 

Gainesville.^ Ocala and Charlotte Harbor Railroad. — From the Georgia 
line, Columbia county, to Charlotte Harbor, Manatee county ; with branch 
from an available point in Polk county to Tampa, Hillsborough county, 
through Columbia, Alachua, Marion, Sumter, Polk, Hillsborough and Man- 
atee ; filed June 8th, 1876 ; capital stock $ ; length 325 miles. 

Gainesville., Ocala and Charlotte Har-bor Railroad — Changed to Flor- 
ida Southern by articles filed April 7, 1881. From Lake Cit}', Columbia 
county, to Gainesville, Alachua ; Ocala, Marion; Leesburg, Sumter county; 
Brooksville, Hernando county ; with branch from Gainesville to Palatka 
finished, 60 miles, and from Gainesville to Ocala finished, 30 miles ; length 
370 miles. 

Jacksonville., Tampa and Key West Railroad. — Now building ; first 
by act of March 4, 1879, as Tampa, Peace Creek and St. Johns, then by 
articles filed July 5, 1881, to name first above; right of way and alternate 
sections with right to choose any convenient gauge, and bonus of 10,000 
acres per mile of finished road ; work commenced ; length 380 miles. 

Sanford., Lake Eustis and Ocala Railroad. — From Sanford, Orange 
county, by Lake Eustis, to Ocala, Marion county ; alternate sections and 
right of way ; articles filed 5th of March, 1881, then by act March 8, 1881 ; 
length 70 miles. 

Tavares, Orlando and Atlantic Railroad. — From Tavares, near Lake 
Dora, Orange county, to Apopka City, thence to Orlando, thence to St. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. tl 

Johns river, near Lake Harney, thence to Titusville, Brevard county ; arti- 
cles filed October 10th, 1881 ; capital stock $20,000; length 95 miles. 

Leesburg and Indian River Railroad. — From a point on the Florida 
Tropical Railroad, due west from Leesburg, thence east to Leesburg, thence 
to Lakes Eustis and Dora, with branches to Apopka and Tohopekaliga, 
through Orange and Brevard to a point on Indian river ; articles filed Sep- 
tember 23, 1881 ; capital stock $750,000; length 80 miles. 

Tavares and Lake Monroe Railroad. — From Tavares to Sanford, Or- 
ange count}^ ; articles filed October 10th, 1881 ; capital stock $20,000 ; 
length 35 miles. 

Apopka Brayich of South Florida Railroad. — From Jackson, on South 
Florida Railroad, in Orange county, to the Withlacoochee river, Sumter 
county; articles filed October 10th, 1881; capital stock $150,000 ; length 
56 miles. 

Atlantic^ Gulf and West India Transit Railroad. — Incorporated first 
as Florida Railroad, January 8, 1853, then changed to name first as above. 
From Fernandina, Nassau county, to Tampa Ba}-, Hillsborough county, 
and Charlotte Harbor, Manatee county, with branch to Cedar Ke}' s ; right 
of wa}' and alternate sections of State lands, and by act of Congress Hth 
March, 1856, to alternate sections of United States lands from Fernandina 
to Cedar Keys ; completed ; length 155 miles. 

Florida Midland and Georgia Railroad. — From Deadman's Baj^, Tay- 
lor county, to the Georgia line, between Madison and Quitman or Valdosta ; 
alternate sections and bonus of 6,000 acres per mile of completed road ; in- 
corporated by act of 1881 ; length 10 miles. 

Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad. — By act of 25th 
February, 1881, as Live Oak, Tampa and Rowland's Bluff", then by articles 
filed 23d July, 1881, to name first above ; finished to Rowland's Blutt", 23 
miles ; capital stock $5,000,000 ; length 260 miles. 

Micanopy and Brooksville Railroad. — From the Transit road, between 
Gainesville and Arredondo, through Micanopy to Brooksville, through 
Alachua, Marion and Hernando counties ; length 80 miles. 

Jacksonville and Palatka Railroad.— From Jacksonville, through 
Duval, Clay and Putnam to Palatka; articles filed February 11th, 1882; 
capital stock $2,200,000 ; length 65 miles. 

Seaside Railway. — From Brooksville, Hernando county, through Hills- 
borough to Point Penellas ; length 75 miles. 

Monticello and Georgia Railroad. — From Monticello to Georgia line, 
to connect with a Georgia road there ; by act of 7th March, 1881 ; capital 
stock $50,000 ; length 12 miles. 

Florida Railroad and Lumber Company. — From Bronson, Levy 



72 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

county, west to Suwannee river ; articles filed April 4th, 1882 ; capital 
stock $100,000 ; length 20 miles. 

Georgia and Florida Midland Railroad. — From a point on Georgia 
line, in Gadsden county, to a point on the St. Johns river, Duval county, 
through Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison Taylor, Lafayette, Alachua, 
Bradford, Clay and Duval ; articles filed April 1.5th, 1882 ; capital stock 
$5,000,000 ; length 225 miles. 

Chattahoochee and East Pass Railroad. — From Chattahoochee, in Gads- 
den county to Gulf of Mexico, on southern boundary of Franklin county, 
through Gadsden, Liberty and Franklin ; articles filed December 26th, 1881 ; 
length 65 miles. 

Florida Central and Western Railroad. — First Florida, Atlantic and 
Gulf Central, then Florida Central and Western ; from Jacksonville to 
Chattahoochee, with branches to Monticello and from Tallahassee to St. 
Marks ; all completed ; length 228 miles. 

Savannah., Florida and Western Branch Railroad. — From Dupont, Ga., 
to Live Oak, Fla, ; all completed. 

Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad. — Right of way 200 feet wide ; alter- 
nate sections from State, and by act of Congress May 17th, 1856, from 
United States ; from Apalachicola river at terminus of Florida Central and 
Western, by most direct route to Pensacola ; now building ; with a bonus 
of 20,000 acres per mile of completed road ; length 160 miles. 

Potsacola. and Mobile Bailroad and Manufacturing Company. — Com- 
pleted; From Alabama and Florida Railroad to Pei'dido river; by act of 
1861; length 21 miles. 

Pensacola and, Perdido Railroad. — Completed; By act of February 
27th, 1872; capital stock $100,000 ; length 9 miles. 

Florida Peninsula jRailroad. — From Waldo, Alachua county, to 
Ocala, Marion county; completed ; length 42 miles. 

Pensacola and Louisville Railroad. — From Pensacola to Alabama line ; 
completed ; length 36 miles. 

Tropical Peninsular Railroad. — From Ocala to Leesburg, Sumterville, 
Sumter county, Brooksville, Hernando county, thence to Tampa, Hillsbor- 
ough county, with a branch from Leesburg to Orlando, Orange county ; 
right of way 120 feet wide; alternate sections and a bonus of 10,000 acres 
per mile of finished road ; length 130 miles. 

Green Cove Springs and Melrose Railroad. — Progressing ; by act of 
February 28th, 1881 ; right of way 120 feet wide and alternate sections ; 
length 30 miles. 

Okeehumkee and Panasoffkee Railroad. — From Okeehumkee to Pana- 
soffee, Sumter county ; by act of March 8th, 1881 ; length 12 miles. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 73 

Silver Springs, Ocala and Gulf Railroad. — Completed 6 miles ; from 
Silver Springs, Marion county, to Ocala, thence to the waters of the Gulf 
in Levy or Hernando county ; by act of February 27th, 1872, then by arti- 
cles filed January 2 1st, 1875; capital stock $100,000; alternate sections; 
right of way and 10,000 acres per mile; length 40 miles. 

Florida and Pacific Railroad From Chattahoochee river to Mobile, 

Ala., through the counties of Jackson, Washington, Holmes, Walton, 
Santa Rosa and Escambia ; length 150 miles. 

lomoka Railroad. — From the mouth of Withlacoochee river. Levy 
county, to Ormond, through the counties of Levy, Marion, Orange and Volu- 
sia ; articles filed May 6th, 1881 ; capital stock $400,000 ; length 150 miles. 

St. Johns and Suwannee River Railroad. — From navigable head watei's 
of Black creek. Clay county, to Suwannee river, thi'ough the counties of 
Clay and Bradford, via Starke, Alachua county ; capital stock $150,000 
articles filed 12th July, 1881 ; length 70 miles. 

Tavares, Brooksville and Gulf Railroad. — Articles filed October 12th, 
1881; from Tavares, Orange county, to Brooksville, Hernando county, 
thence to Gulf of Mexico ; capital stock $20,000 ; length 90 miles. 

Bartow and Tampa Railroad. — From Bartow, Polk county, to Tampa, 
Hillsborough county; articles filed October 10th, 1881; capital stock 
$250,000 ; length 45 miles. 

Florida Western Railroad. — From Louisville and Nashville road in 
Escambia county, noi'thwest to Alabama line , capital stock $500,000 ; 
length 15 miles. 

St. Johns and Suwannee River Railroad. — From Melrose, Alachua 
county, to Fort Fanning, on Suwannee river, Levy county ; capital stock 
$300,000 ; length 60 miles. 

Indian River and Northwestern Railroad. — From a point in Suwannee 
or Alachua county, through Alachua, Marion, Sumter, Orange and Brevard, 
to Indian river; articles filed December 12th, 1881; capital stock $3,000,- 
000 ; length 300 miles. 

Palatka and Sanford Railroad. — From Palatka, through Marion, to 
Sanford, Orange county; articles filed December 19th, 1881 ; capital stock 
$20,000 ; length 80 miles. 

Indian River Central Railroad. — From Enterprise, Volusia county, 
to Titusville, Brevard county; articles filed December 28th, 1881 ; capital 
stock $100,000 ; length 40 miles. 

Indian River and Manatee Railroad. — From Titusville, Brevard 
county, to the mouth of Manatee river. Manatee county, via Bartow and 
Fort Meade, Polk county; articles filed January 27, 1882 ; capital stock 
$100,000; length 150 miles. 



Y4 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

Bartovj and Gulf Bailroad. — Articles not filed ; from Bartow, Polk 
county, through the southeastern portion of Hillsborough to a point at or 
near the mouth of the Manatee river. 

Florida Trojncal Bailroad. — From Ocala to Charlotte Harbor, via 
Tampa; completed ; length 150 miles. 

St. Johns Terminal Bailroad. — From a point on the Fernandina and 
Jacksonville Railroad, three miles from the Jacksonville terminus, to a 
point on the Florida Central and Western, three miles from the Jackson- 
ville terminus ; articles filed April 4th, 1882 ; length 5 miles. 

Thomasville^ Tallahassee and Bio Carabelle Bailroad. — Incorporated 
June, 1882 ; from Thomasville, via Tallahassee, to deep water on the Grulf 
at St. George Sound ; length 95 miles. 

LIST OV CANALS CHARTERED IN FLORIDA. 

Florida Canal. — From Chattahoochee river or ba}' to St. Andrews bay, 
thence to Dead Lake, thence to Chipola river ; length 23 miles. 

Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Ship Canal. — Filed March 30th, 1881; 
from Cumberland sound and the Harbor of Fernandina on the Atlantic, 
across to the Griilf through the counties of Nassau, Duval, Cla}', Bradford, 
Alachua and Levy, or the tier of counties further south : St. Johns, Put- 
nam, Marion and Levy ; or, if found more practicable, the canal may be 
located on the route surveyed by General Gilmore from the mouth of St. 
Marys river to the Gulf of Mexico, at St. Marks river and ba\' passing 
through the counties of Nassau, Baker, Columbia, Hamilton, Suwannee, 
Madison, Taylor and Jefferson. The whole distance from St. Marys to 
St. Marks, ITO miles; right of way 200 feet wide and 1,000 feet additional 
on either side ; also a ship railway through the counties aforesaid, similar 
to the ship railway to be constructed across the isthmus of Tehauntepec in 
construction and operation ; capital stock $40,000,000 ; articles filed again 
August 22, 1881. 

Florida Ship Canal. — From Charlotte Harbor to St. Lucie, Indian 
river; articles filed April 7, 1881 ; capital stock $30,000,000; length 130 
miles. 

Florida Canal. — From the mouth of the Withlacoochee, Levy county, 
to New Brittain on the Atlantic, through Levy, Marion, Orange and Volu- 
sia ; articles filed June 23d, 1881; capital stock, $100,000; length 100' 
miles. 

Florida Coast Line and Canal Transiwrtation Company. — From Ma- 
tanzas river, St. Johns county, through Smiths creek to the head of Halifax 
river; also from Mosquito lagoon within four miles of Haulover, south- 
wardly to Indian river in Volusia county ; capital stock $100,000 ; length 
12 miles. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 75 

Atlantic Coast, Steamboat Canal and Improvement Company. — Arti- 
cles filed December, 1880 ; capital stock $1,000,000 ; length 830 miles. 

Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Company. — By 
act of March 8th, 1881 ; from the navigable waters of Caloosahatchie to 
Lake Okeechobee, and through the same to the Atlantic ; length 80 miles. 



COMMON SCHOOLS. 

The Constitution of the State of Florida requires that the Legislature 
shall provide a uniform system of common schools. It moreover provides 
that the instruction in them shall be free. 

The 4th section of theXIIIth article provides that the Common School 
Fund, only the interest of which shall be applied to the support and main- 
tenance of common schools, shall be derived from the following sources : 
" The proceeds of all lands that have been, or maj' hereafter be, granted to 
the State hy the United States for educational purposes; donations by 
individuals for educational purposes ; appropriations by the State ; the 
proceeds of land or other propert}' which may accrue to the State by escheat 
or forfeiture ; the proceeds of all property granted to the State when the 
purpose of such grant shall not be specified ; all moneys which may be 
paid as an exemption from military duty ; all fines collected under the 
penal laws of this State ; such portion of the per capita tax as may be pre- 
scribed by law for educational purposes ; twentj'-five per centum of the 
sale of public lands which are now or may hereafter be owned b}' the 
State." 

The amount already derived from these sources, and now funded, only 
the interest of which can be used, is §248,900. 

The Constitution also requires " that a special tax of not less than one 
mill on the dollar of all taxable property of the State shall be levied and 
apportioned annually for the support and maintenance of common 
schools. " 

An act of the Legislature has provided for carrying out this clause of 
the Constitution. 

The taxable property of the State, as shown by the last returns in the 
Comptroller's office, real and personal, is $36,691,823. The one-mill an- 
nual tax for common scliool purposes on this sum is $36,691.82. The com- 
mon school fund of $248,900, derived from the sources above specified and 
now at interest, returns an available revenue for the present year of 
$19,912. 

The Board of Public Instruction for each county is required to prepare 
each year, on or before the last Monday in June, an itemized statement 



76 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

showing the amount of money required for the maintenance of the neces- 
sary common schools of their county for the next ensuing scholastic year, 
and shall deliver an official report of the same to the Assessor of Taxes on or 
before the first Monday in July following, and the said amount shall not be 
less than one-half the amount received from the State by the apportionment 
of the Common School Fund nor more than one-half of one per ceyit. of the 
assessed value of taxable property of the county. 

Under these very liberal provisions of the Constitution and Legislature, 
in the State of Florida common schools are supplied throughout her bor- 
ders wherever the scholastic population demands their presence. Separate 
schools for white and colored scholars are universally established, and in 
no cases are the children of the two races in attendance at the same 
schools. 

The common school system established first in Florida in 1868, is gain- 
ing in public favor, and i-equires only experience and skill in teachers to 
make it a success. 

The number of the children in the State entitled to the benefit of the 
Common School Fund, as shown by the last enumeration is, whites, 
44,523 ; colored, 40,000. The number in each county of children of school 
age, and the number attending school, will be found in the separate articles 
on each county. 

EAST AND WEST FLORIDA SEMINARIES. 

The East and West Florida Seminaries, one at Gainesville and the 
other at Tallahassee, ai-e not colleges proper, but chartered institutions with 
powers to confer degrees and grant diplomas. The East Florida Seminary, 
at Gainesville, has a Normal Department for the instruction of teachers. 

In order to secure a wise and equitable application of the educational 
funds of the State, and the advancement of all its educational interests, the 
Constitution provides that there shall be a Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, who holds his office for four years. He is aided in his duties by a State 
Board of Education, provided by law, consisting of the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction as President of the Boai'd, together with the Secretary 
of State and the Attorney-General. This board has charge of the lands of 
the State reserved for educational purposes. They keep, manage and dis- 
burse the education funds with a view to the highest interest of education. 

The statute provides also for a Board of Public Instruction for each 
county, of not more than five members appointed by the Board ot Educa- 
tion, •©i'. the nomination of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the 
recommendat ion of the representative of the county. 

Each county constitutes a school district. 

The law also provides for a Board of Trustees for each school, of not 
more than five members, to be recommended by the patrons of the school 
and appointed by the County Board of Public Instruction. 

ci-- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. tT 

A County Superintendent of Public Instruction is also provided for by 
the school law. He makes timely inspection of the county, ascertains the 
localities in which schools should be established, the number of youths who 
will attend each, and the amount of aid that citizens will contribute for the 
establishing of any one school, and is required to visit the schools of his 
district at least once during each term, and " to do all in his power to 
awaken in parents, guardians, trustees and teachers an increased interest in 
education and the sreneral diffusion of knowledge." 



G-OVERISTMENT OF FLORIDA. 

The powers of the government of the State of Florida, like those of the 
sister States, are divided into the three departments of Legislative, Execu- 
tive and Judicial. 

Legislative powers, vested in Senate and Assembly, is designated the 
Legislature of the Stale of Florida. The Legislature meets on the first 
Tuesday after the first Monday in January, ever^^ two years, and may hold 
Us sessions not longer than sixty da3^s. 

The members of the Assembly are chosen biennially on the first Tues- 
da}' after the first Monday in November. Senators are chosen for the term 
of four }■ ears at the same time and places as members of the Assembly, in 
such way that one-half of the whole number are elected biennially. 

The Legislature fixes the ratio of representation, but the Constitution 
provides that eacli count}' shall have at least one representative, and one 
additionally for everj' one thousand registered voters, but no county shall 
have more than four. The Legislature also fixes the number of Senators, 
which, however, under the Constitution, shall never be less than one-fourth 
nor more than one-half of the whole number of the Assembl}^ At present 
"y (y the number of Assemblymen is-i-M^and the uuml^er of Senators 32. The 
pay of members of the Legislature is a per diem fixed by law for each 
day's actual attendance, and in addition thereto 10 cents mileage. 

THE EXECUTIVE POWEtl 

is vested in a Governor, who is elected for four 3'ears. To be eligible, he 
must hat'e been for nine years a citizen of the United States and three 
years a citizen of Florida. 

A Lieutenant-Governo'' is elected at the same time and places as the 
Governor, and is President of the Senate, but has only a casting vote. He 
becomes Acting Governor upon the removal from office by death, inability 
or resignation of the Governor. 

The Governor has a Cabinet of Administrative officers, consisting of 
Secretary of State, Attorney-Genei'al, Comptroller, Treasurer, Superintend- 



!I8 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

ent x)f Public Instruction, Adjutant-General, and Commissioner of Lands. 
They are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. 

THE JUDICIAL POWERS 

of the State are vested in a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, County Courts 
and Justices of the Peace. 

The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice and two Associate 
Justices. They are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Sen- 
ate and hold their offices for life or during good behavior. The Supreme 
Court appoints its own Clerk. 

There are, as the Constitution requires, seven Circuit Judges appointed 
by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, who hold their offices for 
eight years. 

The Executive appoints a County Judge for each county, who is con- 
firmed by the Senate and holds his office for four j^ears. 

The Governor appoints as many Justices of the Peace as he may deem 
necessary, who hold office for four j^ears, but are subject to removal by the 
Governor for reasons satisfactory to him. 

The Governor, by and with the consent of the Senate, appoints in each 
count}^ a Sheriff and Clerk of the Circuit Court, who is also Clerk of the 
County Court and of the Board of County Commissioners, Recoi'der and 
ex-officio Auditor of the county. He holds his office for four years. 

The Governor appoints, by and with the consent of the Senate, in each 
county an Assessor of Taxes and Collector of Revenue, who hold office for 
two years, subject to removal upon recommendation of Governor and con- 
sent of Senate. 

The Governor appoints in each count}^ a County Treasurer, County 
Surveyor, Superintendent of Common Schools, and five County Commis- 
sioners, each of whom shall hold his office for two years, and is subject to 
removal by the Governor when, in his judgment, the public good will benefit 
thereby. 

A Constable may be elected by the registered voters of each county — 
one Constable for every two hundred voters, but under the Constitution 
everv county is entitled to at least two, and no county shall have more 
than twelve. 

The salary of the Governor is $3,500, that of the Justices of the Su- 
preme Court, each, $3,000 ; that of the several Judges of the Circuit Court 

$2 .500. 
*"'' * SUFFRAGE AND ELIGIBILITY. 

Every male person of the age of 21 ^^ears, and of whatever race, color, 
nationality or previous condition, who shall, at the time of offering to vote, 
be a citizen of the United States, or who shall have resided or had his habi- 
tation, domicile, home, and place of permanent abode in Florida for one 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 19 



year, and in the county for six months next preceding the election at which 
he shall offer to vote, shall, in each county, be deemed a qualified elector. 

Every elector shall^, at the time of his registration, talve and subscribe 

the following oath : " I, , do solemnly swear that I will support 

the Constitution and Grovernment of the United States, and Constitution 
and Grovernment of the State of Florida, against all enemies, foreign and 
domestic ; that I will bear true faith, loyalty and allegiance to the same, 
any ordinances or resolutions of any State Convention or Legislature to 
the contrary notwithstanding. So help me God." 

Disfranchisement results from the conviction of bribery, perjury, lar- 
ceny or other infamous crime, or for being directly or indirectly interested 
in any bet or wager, the result of which shall depend upon any election, or 
for being principal or second in a duel, or shall send or accept or be the 
bearer of a challenge or acceptance to fight a duel. 

HOMESTEAD. 

A homestead to the extent of IGO acres of land, or the half of one acre 
within the limits of any incorporated town or city owned by the head of a 
family, residing in tliis State, together with $1,000 worth of personal prop- 
erty, and the improvements on the real estate are exempted from forced 
sale under any process of law, and the real estate, shall not be alienable 
without the joint consent of husband and wife when that relation exists, 
but no property shall be exempt from sale or from the payment of obliga- 
tions contracted for the purchase of said premises or for the erection of im- 
provements thereon, or for house, field or other labor performed on the 
same. 

The exemption herein provided shall not extend to more improvements 
or buildings than the residence and business house of the owner. 

PUBLIC IXSTITUTIOXS. 

The Constitution provides that institutions for the insane, blind and 
deaf, and such other benevolent institutions as the public good maj' require 
shall be fostered by the State. 

An asylum for the insane has been founded, where the idiotic are also 
received. This institution is located upon a high hill on the eastern side 
of the Apalachicola river in Gadsden county, A i)artof the buildings were 
erected originally b}'^ the United States Government for an arsenal and sub- 
sequently turned over to the State, and then fitted by erection of new build- 
ings and proper alterations for present uses. The inmates are comfortably 
provided for. The males and females of both colors have compartments 
for themselves and then in these their separate rooms. These apartments 
and enclosed grounds, at the date of a casual visit, 20th May, 1882, were 
found in a neat and comfortable condition. The unfortunate inmates, num- 



80 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

bering 126, seemed all to be on the best of terms with Dr. Randolph, the 
intelligent and humane gentleman having them in charge. They evidently 
enjoyed his presence as he passed among them in showing us around. The 
water at the asylum is pure free-stone and of the best quality. The locality 
is thought one of the healthiest in Florida. There is connected with the 
asylum about 1,800 acres of laud for such uses as the institution may have 
for it. 

No institution has as 3^et been provided for either the blind or the 
deaf. 

The policy adopted by the State of Florida in the care of convicts for 
,^iefl!^crime is to lease them for terms to contractors, who employ them 
upon railroad construction and other public works, instead of confining 
them within the walls of a State Prison. 

The number under sentence of imprisonment is about 200. 
Experience lias demonstrated that the plan of hiring the convicts to labor 
in the open air is both humane and healthful, and more agreeable to the 
prisoners themselves than close confinement. It is, moreover, less expen- 
— — sive to the State. Indeed, they are hired out at present at $15 each per 
annum, with such obligations to provide for their safe keeping as was 
thought necessary to require. 

The population of Florida, under the census returns of 1880, was 

269,493. The increase in population in Florida during the decade from 

^^ 18T0 to 1880 was something over^^per centcfand for the years 18*79 and 

, 1880 there was an increase at the rate of 60 per cent. As this tide of im- 

"Vh/i''' migration has been largely increased during the last two years, it is fair to 

estimate that the annual 

from 20 per cent, h^ cytryfti. 

The vote of the State 
28,000; Republican, 23,000— total, 51,000. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 



cUtadx 
X 




The State Legislature, at its session of January, 1881, imposed a tax 
of 8 mills upon the assessed value of real and personal estate for the years 
1881 and 1882; but the enactment provided "that if the Governor should 
discover, from the aggregate asses^ent of the property of the State, and 
from other sources of revenue, the reduction of the 8 mills State tax to 7 
mills will be justified, he is hereby authorized to direct the Collectors of 

^£i Revenue to collect-«e-7 mills State tax for 1882." 

U The returns of Assessors showed an increase of taxable property from 

$31,157,846 in 1880 to $36,243,523 in 1881— an increase in taxable property 
in twelve months of over $5,000,000. Instructions were therefore issued 
by the Governor to the several Collectors to collect but 7 mills for the year 
1882. Of this tax of seven mills one mill goes to the support of schools. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 81 

(in addition to the county school tax,) three mills for sinking fund and in- 
terest on the public debt, leaving three mills for the general expenses of 
the State government. 

The returns have not yet been made of the lands assessed for taxation 
in 1882, but returns have been made of all the lands assessed for taxation 
in 1881. The aggregate sum of all the lands assessed for taxation in 1881 
gives as the tax-pajing area 7,292,857 acres. The large land sales that 
have been made in order to disencumber the Internal Improvement Fund, 
and the generous grants made in aid of railroads and canals by the Legis- 
lature, coupled with the more thorough system of assessment which has 
been inaugurated during the present year, will add many million acres more 
to the assessment rolls. In quantity, therefore, the tax-paying area will 
jDrobably be doubled by the time of the next assessment. 

The indebtedness of the State, which is bonded, as shown by the books 
in the Comptroller's office, is about $1,280,000. Nearly one-half of these 
bonds are controlled b}' the State, and the interest accruing upon them is due 
to institutions under the fostering care of the State. Of these bonds there are 
held for common schools $248,900 ; for East and West Florida Seminaries, 
$85,000; for sinking fund, $150,000; held by private parties, $606,000. 
Florida's credit was never so good as now. She has no floating debt, her 
Treasurer meets all demands in cash, and her bonds are at a high premium, 
her 7 per cent, bonds being worth to-day 125. 

There are also 7 per cent, bonds of the State held by the Indian Trust 
Fund of the United States, amounting to $132,000 ; but as an offset the 
State has a claim against the United States amounting to about $275,000 — 
$225,000 of which was reported upon by the Secretary of War to the last 
Congress as justly due. That much of the claim, therefore, is likely to be 
allowed, which will more than liquidate the claim of the United States 
against Florida. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF COUNTIES. 

The following descriptions of counties have, for the most part, been 
prepared for this pamphlet by residents of the several counties. In some 
instances the Commissioner has found it impossible to procure such contri- 
butions, and has been obliged to substitute such mere statistical data 
touching such counties as he could acquire with the limited opportunities 
at his command. 

The area and population, as given under the several county heads, are 
taken from the latest bulletins on the subject from the Census Bureau at 
Washington. The area of improved lands or acres in cultivation, number 
of domestic animals, and assessed value of property, are from returns in 
Comptroller's office for the year 1881. The number of public schools, 
6 



82 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

number of children of school age, white and colored, and number of school 
attendance, is from data in the office of Superintendent Public Instruction, 
and for the year ending September 30, 1881. Amount of school lands un- 
sold are also from the same office. 

Where, in the following descriptive articles on the several counties, no 
resident is named or recommended to the reader as a proper person to ad- 
dress any additional inquiries to concerning that county, we beg that the 
reader will write to the. Secretary of the Bureau of Immigration, Tallahas- 
see, Fla., and ask the name of a correspondent in that county. In all cases 
an effort will l)e made to place the inquirer in correspondence with some 
resident citizen of such county, who will answer letters and give detailed 
information. In no case will the Bureau regard itself in any sense as re- 
sponsible for the statements and representations so made by parties whose 
names we furnish, as in most cases such parties are unknown to the Bureau, 
except as residents willing to answer letters referred to them from this 

Bureau. 

ALACHUA COUXTY. 

Area, 1,260 square miles, 806,400 acres. Population in 1830 was 
2,204 ; in 1840, 2,582 ; in 1850, 2,524 ; in 1860, 8,232 ; in 1870, 17,328 ; in 
1880, 18,697. Number of public schools, 62; children of school age, 
7,312 ; white 2,601 ; colored, 4,711 ; school attendance, 2,233 ; school laud 
unsold, 12,078 acres. Number of acres of improved land, 37,095. Horses and 
mules, 2,340 ; cattle, 16,202 ; sheep and goats, 2,004 ; hogs, 7,292. Assessed 
value of property, $2,189,588. 

General Observations. — Alachua county is equidistant from Ma- 
tanzas, on the Atlantic, and Deadman's bay, on the Gulf, being seventy 
miles at the centre from each point. The highest altitude is nearly two 
hundred feet above sea level. For this reason the heat is refreshingl}^ tem- 
pered by the wind currents from the opposite seas. This fact is attested 
by the low range of the thermometer during this summer, which has been 
the hottest experienced by the present generation. On no day did the 
mercury re^iister 100 degrees in the shade. Northwestern people settled 
here within the last twelve months wrote home about the refreshing breezes 
of the day and the coolness of the nights. The county is equally as 
healthy as any in the State ; portions of it as free from disease as any part 
of the Union. Except under accidental conditions of the most unfavorable 
kind, such as great exposure to the malaria of low hammocks, rains, &c., 
high and fatal bilious fever is rare. Easily managed chill is more fre- 
qu° nt. Occasionally cases of typhoid fever develop, but they seldom ter- 
minate fatally. It is the testimony of all physicians that diseases are less 
stubborn, and are less likely to terminate in death than the same kinds of 
diseases in higher latitudes. For a territory of about 1,400 square miles, 
the death rate is exceedingly small. 

The Lands to Live on. — It has always been the custom to select dr}' 
pine lands for residence, on account of their great healthfulness and the 
purity of the water. These two conditions insure health, proofs of which 
we have from all quarters and from old and new settlers. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 83 

A Sanitarium. — In winter the country is a sanitarium for invalids. 
Tlie air is light, dry and invigorating. The natural water-sheds preserve 
the rainfalls from standing and stagnating, or the sandy soil absorbs them 
like a sponge, and they are carried off by natural under-drains. 

Effects of Cold. — The county being elevated and within the frost 
line, it is with sudden freezes that orange-growers and gardeners have to 
contend. But this danger is averted generally by careful protection of 
trees and plants. All over the territory there are numerous large bearing 
orange trees that have never been materially injured by cold. A number 
of wild sour groves have been transformed into sweet by budding, and 
there are hundreds of young seedling and budded groves coming on to 
high bearing. The severity of last winter did little damage to the trees. 

Miscellaneous Productions. — The production of early vegetables for 
Northern and Western markets is largely engaged in, especially along and 
near the railroads, and requires much care. Strawberries are grown on a 
large scale for shipment. The early and late of every variety of peach 
grows and bears well. Apples of very considerable size are protluced. Le- 
Conte pears have been Introduced, are thrifty in growth, and, no doubt, will 
yield abundantly. Walnut and pecan trees bear liberally on hickory lands. 
Figs, grapes and berries in many varieties abound. Two crops of Held 
peas a year can be made, and peanuts, gubers and chufas can be produced 
in great profusion for stock. A number of grasses may be turned into ex- 
cellent hay, and millets flourish. The '' beggar-louse" weed grows luxuri- 
antly. All kinds of stock feed on it greedily and fatten, and some farmers 
put it up for hay. It is a valuable substitute for clover. Oats are becom- 
ing a staple crop, and rye may be made so. Indian corn is planted by all 
who cultivate the soil, and in proportion to the carefulness of tilth and the 
practical experience of the cultivator is the product. On land that could 
be made to average sixty bushels of corn to the acre, the majority of our 
farmers are content with twenty -five, and on inferior land with ten. The 
ease with vvLiich the land can be worked seems always to have been a draw- 
back to planting fewer acres and giving them better cultivation. By im- 
proved methods of cropi)ing the entire demand for corn for the consumers 
of the county could be supplied by the farmers. Rice is destined to take 
rank as a staple crop, both as a forage plant and for the lable. The iiigh- 
land variety is receiving much attention. It grows a large, strong stalk, 
crowned with abundant grain, and can be made to average forty bushels to 
the acre. Lately patented machinery for cleaning is ready to be introduced 
by inventors living here. Arrow-root, cassava, coontie and other starch 
plants, and Irish and sweet potatoes, tanyas, cabbages and onions, pump- 
kins, squashes, turnips, cucumb.is, egg-plants, okras, tomatoes, cushaws 
anil melons, radishes, [)arsnips, peppers, &c.. grow as well and prolitically 
here as they do anywhere in the world. The wild pasturage is abundant 
and good for the larger portion of the year, during which kine, sheep, 
horse's, mules and hogs keep fat. With winter provision for them, stock- 
raising would be a better business than making cotton. For rearing 
horses and mules no man could demand a more provident section ot coun- 
try. The cultivation of tobacco from Cuba seed is being introduced, and 
promises to become a large industry. Sugar-cane is a valuable staple crop. 
Like all other products except cotton, fruits, berries melons and vegetables, 
sugar and syrup are made for home use and not for export. The adapta- 



84 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

V)ility of the soil and climate to the cultivation of sugar-cane must be recog- 
nized in the fact that nearly every farmer annually plants a small crop of it, 
and pays as much attention to it as to his corn and cotton. Sugar and syrup 
being heavy articles to transport, rates of carriage prohibitory, and the 
markt^t demand small, no inducements offer to make these articles of neces- 
sity f'J'f export ; nor will a change come until all the latest improved ma- 
chinery employed to prepare all classes of commercial sugars for the trade 
are introduced here. Capitalists are beginning to learn that sugar-houses, 
as well as cotton factories, do best wlien established where the raw mate- 
rials grctw. But cotton is the main staple of the county. It is the Sea- 
Island or long-staple variety ; and the superiority of the fibre is recognized 
in the markets of Savannah, Charleston and Liverpool. It is used for 
sewing threads and the finest white goods, and nearly every bale goes 
across the Atlantic. Some day it will be spun and woven at home, and 
the matuifactured articles exported over the commercial world. 

Pop'-fiiATioN — ITS Elemei^ts. — The population of this county is about 
20 000 the majority being freedmen. The increase has been of white peo- 
ple by '^. steady immigration of American and foi-eign-born settlers. In a 
short time the white citizens will be in the majority. But no social evils 
have grown out of the fact that the}^ are the lesser in number. Intelligence 
nredoml nates in all the essential avenues of business and the principal oc- 
ouDations of life- For the most part the colored people are law abiding, 
industrious and prosperous. Only the towns collect the most indolent and 
noor while the majority in such places are thrifty, keep up their churches, 
and av u^j^ul r'itiz^ns. The white population is of the advanced classes, 
a very laru-e per cent, of them being of the educated, refined and mor- 
ftllv traiucll society of the old States. The bar, the pulpit, the school- 
house tlie rjierchant-houses, the work-shops, the hotels, the exchanges, the 
internal improvements, the mills and the farms, are filled and carried on by 
men who have moved here from the most advanced, enlightened and entei*- 
nriaine sections of the North, South, East and West, and the best culti- 
vated in these particulars of the native population. There is absolutely no 
ostracism of such settlers, come from where they may. The only division 
is noHtical. as it is in every State of the Union. In all other matters there 
is close unity of sympathy, public spirit and action, just as in all the older 
Stites A man from Old or New England is just as much at home here 
as there in his business and social relations. Every new-comer, like those 
we have welcomed within the past ten years, will meet with well-wishers on 
every hand. 

The Churches. — The Baptists, Episcopalians, Methodists and Presby- 
terians have houses of worship. There are among us also Lutherans, Chris- 
tians Methodist Episcopals, Congregationalists and Cumberland Presbyte- 
rians' in smaller numbers than the sects before named, but adding much 
to the volume of the conserving influence necessary to the maintenance 
• of a society desirable to dwell in. 

Fducational Developments. — Educational advantages in this county 
are second to none in the State. Since the introduction of the free school 
system in 1.868, all the children have had the privilege of instruction in short 
terms of schools annually, which but comparatively few of them could havese- 
cured bv the employment of teachers for private schools. The great mass 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 85 

of the people were so utterly impoverished by the war that they could not 
have paid for the services of teachers for years. The system is not only in 
its infancy, but it lacks the necessary adjunct of means liberally diffused 
among the people for the employment of competent instructors, to keep the 
free school open for the school 3'ear, by private sustentation, supplementary 
to the public funds. When public schools shall come to be financially sus- 
tained, systematized and conducted by trained teachers, their inestimable 
advantages will be felt and fostered by the whole body of the people. There 
are a number of private schools carried on for ten months' sessions by thor- 
oughly educated and experienced teachers in Gainesville, to which pupils 
from the surrounding country and distant counties are sent. In this 
city, too, is located the East Florida Seminary, a State Institution, open for 
males and females alike. The object of its establishment is to give a lib- 
eral and thorough normal education and training of students, free of tuition 
charges, from each county east of the Suwannee river, in proportion to the 
county's representation in the lower branch of the Legislature. The bene- 
ficiaries are selected by the Commissioners of each county. The Trustees of 
this Seminary are appointed by the Governor, with the consent ofthc Senate. 
In their discretion the trustees may allow the admission of pupils from any- 
where, and may require the pa3^ment from their parents or guardians of a small 
tuition fee. The charge now made is $2.50 per quarter of nine weeks for 
all scholars except beneficiaries representing counties. There are now 110 
pupils enrolled, 32 of whom are beneficiaries and non-residents of the 
county. The Seminary is supported by the semi-annual interest of an in- 
vented public fund, and the small tuition fees paid by the non-beneficiary 
scholars ; and, therefore, it will be a permanent seat of learning, the great 
advantages of which should be accepted and enjoyed by the eighteen coun- 
ties entitled to them. The Trustees and Board of Instruction greatly de- 
sire a full rept-esentation of pupils from each county at every annual ses- 
sion. 

Physical Peculiarities. — The topography of Alachua is more nearly 
like that of Leon than any other county with which the writer is familiar. 
The hard woods are the same, with other valuable timber not found there. 
The soil differs from the stiff red clay. In general, the best pine land is 
almost identical with the first-class "in Middle Florida, but more rolling, 
without a rotten limestone base, and with an abundance of free, pure 
water. The open hammock lands are hilly and pebbly ; soil a dark loam, 
underlaid with a chocolate-colored friable clay. On the high mixed pine 
and hammock lauds most of the oldest and largest plantations are situ- 
ated, and their producing (pialities to-day attest the durability of the soil. 
Some of the old planters" preferred the first-class pine land for general crop- 
ping, using for fertilizers cotton seed and pea vines, by which means an- 
nual productiveness was greatly increased. Perhaps the most curious fea- 
ture is that on the highest hills, in both the oak and pine sections, are to be 
found large or small lakes fed by subterranean springs. Every section of 
the county is abundantly watered, save a small part lying between New- 
nansville and Cow Creek. Fine crops are made on lands which, to the eye 
of the inexperienced, are utterly worthless. But practical tests long since 
settled the question of their value. The heavy hammock lands being ex- 
pensive to clear, will be reserved to the use of moneyed men for fruits and 
vineyards, while nearly every acre of fair, uninundated pine land will be 



86 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

sought after by farmers aad gardeners who do their own work. About 
Hawthorne, Waldo, Orange Lake, Melrose, Fairbanks, Archer, Arredondo, 
Battonville, Jappa, Frankland, Cow creek, Santa Fee river, Newnansville, 
LaCrosse, and Gainesville there are lumber, cotton and grist-mills, run by 
steam or water power. The lumber business has always been good, and 
will soon increase to much larger proportions. Large lakes and small ones, 
from which the waters are discharged by large and small creeks, teeming 
with trout, bream, perch, and many other kinds of fish, abound in the four 
quarters of the county. Sand-stone is common, and is used by steam-mill 
men and farmers for their furnaces in preference to bricks It is also pro- 
•nounced to contain a large per cent, of phosphoric acid, and better for fer- 
tilizing than for building. Rock containing iron ore is found toward the 
Suwannee river. Limestone is common, and is being brought into use for 
plastering and fertilizing. Beds of drift and coral rock, and petrified 
wood and bones, are found. It is said that there are beds of blue, yellow, 
red, and white clays, green and white marls and chalk. Mineral springs 
also are found all about the county. Some are strongly impregnated with 
iron, and others with sulphur and magnesia. There are deep-blue springs, 
and springs of transparent soft water. The Worthington, the largest sul- 
phur springs, are north of Newnansville, and exist on both sides of the 
Santa Fe river, dividing Alachua from Bradford county. The two 
largest throw up jets from a long distance beneath the river's bed that make 
the basins boil like huge pots over a large fire. The^^ are resorts in the 
summer and are recommended for rheumatism. The Blue or Magnesia 
spring is situated near the point at which the Florida Southern Railway, 
from Gainesville to Palatka, crosses Lochloosa creek. It is coming into 
notice as a cure for dyspepsia. Large streams are suddenW lost in the 
gullet of an open sink, and others are as suddenly disgorged from deep re- 
cesses. A few hundred yards from the south end of Santa Fe lake, and 
evidently connected with it at an unknown depth, there is a deep canon out 
of which issues a large stream, and a few hundred yards further on it is 
put to the pratical use of turning the water wheel of a mill. With the ex- 
penditure of a little money the stream could be made navigable. Payne's 
Prairie, in past time, discharged the water passing through it from New- 
nan's lake, four miles from Gainesville, into the famous " sink," the which 
all tourists go to see, and has bankrupted the descriptive powers of not a 
few. The underground passage is now choked up, and the great Alachua 
pasturage is now a vast sheet of water over which a small steamer does a 
carrying trade. The " Devil's Washpot " is another curious place visited 
b}'' pleasure parties. The Natural Bridge, across the Santa Fe river, is 
formed by the sudden whirl of the water into a capacious cavern, and its 
breaking out again to the surface far below. A few 3'ears ago a spot in the 
old Newnansville road, that had been traveled for years, dropped in, and 
the tallest trees settled out of sight, while the bowl filled with water. 
Natural wells are found as round and perpendicular as if they had been cut 
through the rock by the hands of man. It is evident that there is almost as 
perfect a net-work of underground streams and springs as marks the sur- 
face. 

Rail and Water-ways. — Next to the fertility of soil, purit}^ of water 
and healthfulness, and advanced social, educational and moral conditions in 
Alachua county, the facilities of transportation and travel are chief induce- 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 87 

ments to immigration. These of late have been greatly increased to meet 
the natural demands of growing population, agriculture and trade. The 
Transit Railroad, from Fernandina to Cedar Key, uniting the Atlantic and 
Gulf of Mexico, runs nearl^^ east and west and not far from the centre of 
the county. Including Gainesville, the Shiretown, five towns and villages 
have been settled on this road within the past twenty-two years, to afford 
convenient centres of trade for surrounding neighborhoods as they have 
grown in numbers and prospered in agricultural pursuits. From the 
Transit, at Waldo, this county, the Peninsular Railroad runs south along 
the east side of Orange lake to Ocala, in Marion county, and opens an in- 
viting section of Alachua to rapid settlement. From Gainesville the Flor- 
ida Southern Railway runs east, with the terminus at Palatka, on the St. 
Johns river. Tiie Florida Southern crosses the Peninsular Railroad at 
Hawthorn, this county, about twenty-two miles from Gainesville. Nearly 
midway of the two latter places, at Perry Junction, the main trunk of the 
Florida Southern runs south, along the west border of Orange lake, cele- 
brated for its immense orange groves budded on the forest of wild trees. 
The charter of this railway grants the right of construction from a point 
on the Florida Central and Western Railroad to the southern part of 
the Gulf at Charlotte Harbor. The company are grading trom Orange Lake 
to Ocala, and surveying the route through this county in a direction west of 
north towards Lake Gitj. They have displa^-ed great energy in pushing 
on this important enterprise, and will, no doubt, continue to build their 
railway both south and north with the speed large capital can command. 
This railway is designed to connect with the Georgia S3'stera of railroads. 
It will atford much needed facilities for travel, transportation and settle- 
ment to by far the most productive and denseh' populated portion of this 
county. There is likewise an extension contemplated of the Georgia con- 
nection at Live Oak, on the F. C. & W. Railroad, through the extreme 
western part of Alachua, by Bronson, on the Transit Road, to Charlotte 
Harbor, now being surveyed. This, when completed, will make the fifth 
railroad projected through large sections of this county, two of them cross- 
ing near the centre and passing through the whole territor^^ from east to 
west and from north to south. A number of lakes are navigable b}'^ light- 
draught steamers. One steamer is employed in the carrying trade on Or- 
ange and Lochloosa lakes, which are connected by a deep stream. Another 
has been built for the same purpose, to run through a canal between Santa 
Fe lake and Waldo, at the junction of the Transit and Peninsular Rail- 
roads. The canal, when completed, will give ample and cheap transporta- 
tion to a large number of old and new industrious, practical fruit-growers 
and farmers of four counties. At this time there is a small steamer that does 
a good business on Payne's Prairie, which has been overilowed for two or 
three years by the stoppage of its subterranean passage. The Santa Fe 
river has a deep navigable channel from Fort White to its entrance into the 
Suwannee, and the latter river, which is the western boundary of the 
count}', is navigable for steamers from Cedar Key and the Gulf. It is seen, 
therefore, that Alachua is not second to any county of the State in the 
number, convenience and excellence of inland rail and water-ways for the 
public use, the attraction of the tide of immigration and the development 
of opulent resources. 

Lands for Sale. — Large bodies of select land are held for sale by rail- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



road aud other companies, by non-residents and residents, by the State and 
the United States. They are for sale in small and large quantities, and at 
prices ranging from $1.25 to $50 per acre. The highest in pri.ce belong to 
individuals, the others sell at low rates. 

The Oldest Settlements. — Between townships six and twelve, south, 
and ranges seA'^enteen and twenty-one, east, or thirty-six miles from north 
to south, and twenty-four miles from east to west, the oldest settlements 
and densest population of Alachua county are embraced. The attractiveness 
of this section may be inferred from the fact that it has been selected suc- 
cessively by Indians, Spaniards, Englishmen and Americans, in the past 
three centuries for habitation. Large grants made by the Kings of Spain 
are still the familiar names by which they are called to-da}', and embrace 
the finest bodies of land in the county. They are inferior to none in the 
State for natural fertilit}', and they are equally durable. The oldest towns 
are Newnansville, in the northern part, and Micanopy at the southern ex- 
tremity of the county. Newnansville, years ago, was the county site, be- 
fore which it was an advanced post in the Indian territory. A large and active 
population, mostly enterprising Georgians, settled around it and soon sur- 
rounded themselves with bountiful competence. Although the war disas- 
trously affected the place, the hard laboring farmers around have contrib- 
uted a good deal of trade to it, while they have prospered in a good degree. 
Many of them make and save money. They live in the most picturesque 
portion of the county. The larger proportion of the land is rolling open 
hammock, and the pine land is mixed with oak and hickory growths, and 
the latter is quite as hilly as the former. Out of these hills springs of water 
gush. While there are many extensive open plantations, tliere are still 
there large areas of open hammock and pine laud awaiting clearing and 
occupants. Colonists counted by the thousand could make elegant homes 
in that productive section of our county. It is not known wliether wheat 
will grow there, but every other cereal will ; and cotton, tobacco, cane, 
fruits, berries, vines and vegetables are at home. Micanopy is situated in 
the vicinity of lower and denser hammock and mixed lands. The natural 
growths and crops are similar. The town is embowered in old orange 
groves. Much attention has been given by the farmers there to fruit, vine, 
and vegetable-culture. This departure from the custom of cultivating field 
crops alone has not only kept up the business of the place, but bids fair to 
become the means of making -AX the people in the vicinity independent. 
The business of the place is gradually expanding, and its rising prosperity 
seems now to be well assured. At one time it was the county site, and 
maintained a seminary of high grade. The citizens represent many States 
and foreign countries. They are intelligent, economical and attaining a 
condition in life for which they have been long heroically struggling. The 
sightly orange groves and vinej'ards that will abound there will always 
make it an attractive section. Situated near Orange lake, about four miles 
from the track of the Florida Southern Railway, with which the town will 
be connected by a branch road, producers will have the facilities they have 
long needed to get their crops to market. This new advantage will bring 
the lands of that section rapidly into market, and materially increase the 
areas of the varied merchantable productions of all classes of people, and 
invite numbers of new settlers. 

The Younger Settlements. — It will be seen on consulting a map of 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 89 

Alachua county, that the Transit Railroad passes through the Arredondo 
grant, and that Waldo lies on the east and Archer on the west of this great 
plat of magnificent land, and nearly between these is Gainesville, the 
county site. The railroads brought these and other railroad towns into ex- 
istence, and helped to settle in and around them a comparatively new pop- 
ulation, Fairbanks is situate east and Arredondo west of Gainesville, each 
at about twelve miles distance. Archer is a place of considerable trade, 
but is noted principally for the cultivation of fruits, vines, berries, vegeta- 
bles and melons for early supplies to Northern markets. Peach trees attain 
a great age and size in all that section ; grapes, the orange and other fruits 
do well. Messrs. Lipsey & Christie have turned their attention success- 
fully to a large nurseiy, containing a great variety of fruit trees, vines and 
plants. Surrounding lands are pine, with a friable clay subsoil, which 
gives trees and vegetation prolific vigor and endurance. Very fair bricks 
have been made of the clay. But the principal products are Sea Island 
cotton, corn, oats, rice, cane, peas, Irish and sweet potatoes, cabbages, beets, 
turnips, squashes, tomatoes, beans and a multitude of other kinds of gar- 
den vegetables. The soil is easily tilled, and the owners are gradually im- 
proving their circumstances. Gainesville occupies a nearl}^ central position 
to the county, at the junction of the Transit and Florida Southern Rail- 
roads, a branch of the latter running to Palatka, on the St. Johns river, 
and the main trunk being constructed northwest and south through the 
peninsula. The two railroads will bring the city into close relationship to 
the large and productive scope of country inclosed within townships 6-12, 
ranges 17-21, and within which the great majority of 20,000 inhabitants 
have their homes. The city is situated on what is called a "black-jack" 
(stunted red-oak) ridge, on account of the well known healthfulness and 
purity of the water of such localities. The soil is a deep bed of silica, un- 
derlaid with pipe clay at a depth varying from two to twenty feet. Yet 
all over the place there are large orange trees, grapes, as fine an orange and 
pecan nursery as can be found in the State, varieties of fruit trees, straw- 
berries, flowers, gardens of vegetables in profusion and melons of extraordi- 
nary size, rare plants, &c. It is a standing demonstration that there is 
not a foot of land in the county, if it is not overflowed, but that will yield 
an abundant living to any one able to cultivate it. But these healthful and 
good -watered ridges are the I'xception and not the rule in the section of the 
country which we have bounded. Most of the lauds are hard-wood ham- 
mock or mixed-wood pine. The heavy hammock area, inclusive of the high 
open lands, extends from east of Micanopy to Payne's Prairie, and the upper 
part of Xewnan's lake, skirting the prairie on both sides, passing west of 
Gainesville and spreading out fan-like about twelve miles from this place, 
with half the periphery filling the great bend in the Santa Fe river and 
crossing ranges 17 and 21 to the west and east. Within this area there are 
occasional stretches of cypress ponds and saw palmetto plats, but they do 
not give character to the section ; and even such lands will be reclaimed 
and made valuable in the near future. Gainesville being in such a favor- 
able position relatively to this extensive area of the finest classes of land 
in the county, and to the railways crossing here, will constantly attract 
and secure additions to the present population of about 3,000, and acces- 
sions to its commercial, mechanical, political, educational and social impor- 
tance and power. The people of this whole section have struggled under 



90 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

many disadvantages, and all avocations have eked out the prosperity of 
this city by protracted honest work. I^atterly capital from abroad has 
found here profitable investment. Two hotels and many dwellings have 
been erected by new-comers from the North and elsewhere. Citizens who 
saved a little surplus money out of their avocations have invested it in 
furnishing themselves with homes. A bank is doing a very good business. 
There are more applications for rooms for winter guests than can be filled. 
Compared with ten years ago, this is a nevr place. What it will be ten 
years hence we may not predict, but its future shines much brighter in the 
eye of hope than did its past. Its churches, embracing the Episcopal, 
Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and other denominations are growing, 
and its educational advantages, in private schools and in the East Florida 
^Seminary, we believe to be unsurpassed in the State. The society is com- 
p osed of good citizens from Canada to Texas, from Massachusetts to Cali- 
fornia, and from Europe; an<l they will not suffer in the comparison with 
those of the climes from which they came. The city is orderly and the 
community law-abiding, fraternal and enterprising. 

BAKER OOUIs^TY 

Has 500 square miles of territorj^, or 320,000 acres. The population in 
1880 was 2,312; in 1870, 1,325. In 1880 the number of whites was 1,682; 
colored, 630. 

The number of schools in 1881 was It. Children of school age, 728 — 
white, 599; colored, 129; school attendance, 451 ; school lands yet unsold, 
8,973 acres ; number acres of improved land, 3,779; number horses and 
mules, 322 ; cattle, 6,348 ; sheep and goats, 550 ; hogs, 3,258 ; assessed val- 
ue of property, $254,634. 

Sanderson, the county site, is situated on the line of Florida Central 
and Western Railroad, which furnishes convenient transportation for the 
lumber, turpentine and farm products, which are abundant. Vegetable and 
fruitgrowing for mij^ikets abroad is thus made practicable and promising. 

BRADFORD C0U:NTY. 

Area, 550 square miles, or 352,000 acres. Population in 1870 was 
3,671 ; ill 18S0, 6,167— white, 4,895 ; black, 1,272. Number of public 
schools, 36. Children of school age, 1,600 — white, 1,334; black, 266; 
school attendance, 1,256 ; school lands unsold, 4,789 acres; number of acres 
improved lands, 17,358 ; horses and mules, 1,104 ; cattle, 10,584 ; sheep and 
goats, 3,010; hogs, 8,557 ; assessed value of piV)perty, $667,129. 

Soil — First-class. Slightly undulating pine lands ; dark, sand loam 
with clay sub-soil ; little or no palmetto, thickly timbered, roots of trees 
several inches under surface ; not so level or low as to become too wet, nor 
light and rolling enough to be thirsty ; ranks high for vegetables, fruits, 
cotton, corn; 'not adapted to small grain cereals except rice. 

Second-class. — Rolling, beautiful, open pine woods with deep, loamy, 
yellow sand soil and clay sub-soil ; not so fertile as the first-class, but suited 
to same products, including oats, rye and barley ; has hammocks in spots, 
and forms a large proportion of the west and northwest part of the county ; 
is heavilv timbered. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 91 

Third-class. — Throughout the count}- are spots of low, level, compact, 
gray sand land, too wet for crops in rainy season ; covered with scrub pal- 
metto, roots of trees very near or at surface; under a thin, gray top soil 
ai*e strata of white sand, and under this, 12 to 20 inches from surface, a 
very compact, dark substance sometimes called "hard pan." This class is 
not recommended. 

The most fertile lands lie along Santa Fe river, west of Fort Call and 
Lake Butler, extending to and beyond Providence along Olustee creek. 
Many large and fertile farms yield plentiful harvests to a prosperous people 
throughout this beautiful and attractive portion. Most of the hammock 
lands in the county are found here. 

State Lands. — In ranges 18 and 19, including large bodies of choice 
lands, there were, up to 188U, 22,000 acres of State lauds in virgin richness, 
heavily timbered. There are many streams throughout this domain with 
water power sufficient and available for running large mills. Especially is 
this the case on Olustee creek, Swift creek and Six-mile creek. 

In ranges 20 and 21, at same time, there were about 43,000 acres, main 
body lying north of Lake Butler, with large portions east and south. The 
greater ar.a is rolling, open pine land of the second class, elsewhere de- 
scribed. There are some excellent farms in these ranges on Xew river. 
Thousands of acres of these State lands are heavilj' timbered-^the tower- 
ing forests of yellow pine delight the eye of the professional mill man, the 
stretches of woodland pasture invite the stock-raiser, the arable soil a 
tempting location for farmer and fruit grower, the health-restoring, health- 
preserving pine-woods air imparting vigor to the invalid and new strength 
to the robust man. 

The Florida Land and Immigration Company. — The Transit Rail- 
road runs diagonally across range 22, and here most of the State lands 
have been entered. The Florida Land and Immigration Company still 
(1882) own 36,316 acres in this county, all in range 22. Other parties, rep- 
resented b}^ the Land Commissioner of said company, own here 5,594 acres. 

Internal Improvement Lands. —Every acre of this in the county has 
been recenth?- located in tlie interest of Sir Edward Reed as a part of the 
two million purchase from the Disston Company. 

Lakes. — There are many lovely lakes in the countj-, affording excellent 
fishing grounds for delicious trout, bream and all varieties of fish found in 
Florida inland waters. 

The most important are South Prong pond in the northwest, area 
about 1,200 acres ; Swift Creek pond in the north, TOO ; Lake Butler in cen- 
tral portion, TOO; Sampson lake three miles west of Starke, 2,200 ; Crosby 
lake and RoweU's lake, both near Sampson, 800 acres each. The last tiiree 
form a cluster, swamp lands separating the contiguous shores, which are 
inundated during wet seasons. The lands around are well timbered with 
yellow pine. A canal for floating logs could be easily o[)ened from Crosby 
to Howell's. Sampson and Rowell's are connected by a creek. Timber 
could thus be floated from a verj^ large area to a point within 2^ miles of 
the Transit Road. Some of the finest orange groves in the county are 
around the shores of these three lakes. 

Cypress Ponds. -The entire county is dotted with cypress ponds from 



92 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

one-quarter of an acre to 5, 10 and 50 acres in area. They are more numer- 
ous in the east and northeast. These ponds are mostly dry, except during 
rainy seasons, and have a value. The timber is manufactured into best 
quality of shingles, syrup barrels and railroad ties. In them are exhaustless 
deposits of muck, the vegetable mold of ages, which is used as a fertilizer. 
Where thoroughly drained, some of them produce remarkably. In the east 
nearly every 40-acre lot has one or more, and the far-seeing prospector of a 
fruit grove takes into consideration the convenience of a muck pond. 

Agricultural — Bradford county is eminently, agricultural, and has 
great possibilities outside of fruit-culture. 

Corn, Oats, Potatoes, &c. — Coni, on natural soil, jaelds an average 
of from 10 to 30 bushels, according to class of land. Lands respond freely 
to fertilizers all over the county, and 25 to 40 bushels per acre are not 
unusual results. Oats average 15 bushels ; rice 15, though as high as YO 
bushels of rice per acre have been grown in the Lake Butler district ; sweet 
potatoes 100 bushels, highest yield, 300 busliels per acre ; rye, 12 ; cow 
peas, 20 ; chufas, 35. 

Sea Island Cotton. — Sea Island cotton averages 400 pounds in seed 
per acre, but in some localities the yield doubles this amount. It is the 
staple' product. The cotton crop of 1881 was 1,200 bales; value, $105,000. 
The grades of cotton grown on the humid soil of Bradford rank high in 
the market. 

On four acres, at Lake Butler, 900 pounds of lint cotton were grown, 
which sold for $231.50. Cost of labor, $30. No fertilizer used. On Samp- 
son lake, on cow-penned land, a crop of cotton from three acres sold for 
$270. 

Sugar-cane. — This is a valuable crop. Every planter can readily make 
enough sugar and syrup for home use. It is profitable here for market. 
The average is 100 gallons of syrup per acre. B}^ fertilizing or cow-penning 
lands the yield reaches 600 gallons per acre. 

Horticultural. — A good garden is half a living. All the vegetables 
of semi-tropical Florida do well. Irish potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, 
beans, cabbages, peas, turnips, beets, onions, okra, asparagus, &c., can, with 
proper care, be grown to perfection. Throughout the whole year the table 
can be supplied with wholesome, fresh vegetables. 

Floriculture. — The lover of nature's poetry can, in this portion of 
delightful, historic Flowerland, revel in a sweet wilderness of her choice 
productions, in the days of mild December as well as in those of the rare 
queen month of June. The soil is comparatively free of thirsty saad beds, 
is humid and sufficientl}' compact for successful floriculture. 

Bee-oulture. — Several hundred stands of bees in the county. 

Fruits. — Plums, whortleberries and blackberries grow with no care. 
Pomegranate, grape, melon, fig, peach, pecan, pear (LeConte), orange, and 
other East Florida fruits grow well. 

Peaches. — The rolling lands develop large, well-flavored, juicy peaches, 
free of insects. The crop of the county is 10,400 bushels. Half of this 
quantity rot or are fed to the hogs. A great industry could be made very 
profitable here converting the peach crop to marketable product. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 93 



Pears. — The famous LeConte variety is being introduced. The tree 
grows vigorously, faith in its future is strong, and young orchards are being 
planted. There are a few bearing trees in the county. 

Pecans. — Some few trees in the county bearing prolific crops. A few 
groves being put out. 

Oranges. — The agricultural interests are great, but the orange culture 
is fast assuming such proportions that it promises, in the near future, to be- 
come a staple product, and Bradford's soil and climate ))oasts trees that are as 
vigorous growers, as choice fruit, and as prolific bearers as are in any por- 
tion of East or semi-tropical Florida. Every cottage and cabin in a large 
area of the county is, or will soon be, embowered in the rich foliage of the 
orange. Owing to the humid soil, the orange rarely suffers here from drouth. 
The severe cold of 1880-'81 stripped the leaves and froze what fruit there 
was on the trees, but did no material damage. The spring following clothed 
them again, and a crop of oranges was borne same season. In Lawtey dis- 
trict are trees 20 inches in diameter, bearing 4,000 to 6,503 oranges each. 
In Starke .vicinity some bear 6,000. The Port Harley tree, a few miles 
southwest of Starke in the edge of Alachua, has been known to bear 10,- 
000. In Lake Butler neighborhood is a tree 24 inches in diameter, bearing 
7,000 oranges. Near Providence are some bearing as much as 8,000. The 
orange business is yet in its infancy. There are now about 10,000 bearing 
trees in the countj'^, over 200,000 in position, and several hundred thousand 
nursery stock. 

Forest Products. — The census of 1880 gives 16,125 acres of land 
tilled. There are now about 300,000 acres heavily timbered wjtu yellow- 
pine and cypress. But little timber has been cut except along tlie Transit 
Road. Value of mill products in 1880, $138,135 ; capital invested in saw- 
mills, $60,000. Timber and naval stores are largely exported. 

Topography. — Trail Ridge and Highland are very near together ; high 
rolling pine and black-jack ridges ; deep, yellow, loam sand soil, that re- 
sponds readily to manures, but naturally poor , adapted to orange, peach, 
grape, pear and other fruits. At Highland are extensive mill-works, manu- 
facturing best quaility yellow pine from lands of Bradford, about the head- 
waters of New river. One store and several neat dwellings. 

Lawtey and Burrins ma}'^ be considered one village. Settled princi- 
pally by wealthy parties from the North. $100,000 invested last two years 
by immigrants. Some of the finest residences in Florida are seen here. 
Extensive orange groves being planted — 1,000 bearing trees, 35,000 in posi- 
tion, 30,000 nursery stock — in community. Saw-mill at Burrins ; capital 
invested, $10,000. Grist-mill, cotton gin and shingle factory in connection. 
Two stores ; value merchandise sold, 1881, $30,000. Level pine soil with 
clay sub-soil. Lands sell from $1.25 to $100 per acre. 

Garden City. — A settlement 3 miles from Lawtey attracting capital. 

Temple's Mills. — -Centre of large mill interest. Tram road to Kings- 
ley lake ; prospective one to New river. Level pine lands ; vegetables and 
fruits do well. Several pretty cottages and flourishing young fruit groves. 
In 1881 nearly 6,000,000 feet of lumber were shipped. Crates, laths, shin- 
gles, brackets, pickets, and all classes of building material manufactured. 



94 Florida — Its Climate. Soil and Productions. 



Starke. — Central point on Transit Railroad between Fernandina and 
Cedar Keys. Level and undulating pine lands around, suited to cotton, 
vegetables and fruit. Orange groves dot the entire district. Within cor- 
porate limits are G,000 trees in position, and 30,000 nursery stock. Seven 
stores ; value merchandise sold, 1881, $130,000 ; shipped same season, 800 
bales Sea Island cotton. There are now in attendance upon two schools in 
the town an average of 160 pupils the entire scholastic year. Supported 
by a fine farming and fruit-gcowing country, the place is rapidly and sub- 
stantially building up. A large hotel is greatly needed; capital so invested 
would pay handsome profit. Here, as in a great portion of the count}', it 
is remarkably healthy. A large proportion of the orange groves in the 
county are in this district. 

Santa Fe. — Straggling village ; one small store. Within radius of 
three miles are first-class pine lands, and some of the most flourishing or- 
ange groves in the county. In the Santa Fe district are 10,000 trees in 
position and 20,000 nursery stock. Level pine lands, with choice sections 
of rolling oak ridges. 

Pine Hill. — A settlement in western interior with a store, school- 
house and Masonic hall. Thickl}^ settled, excellent farms, rolling, fertile 
pine lands, sprinkled with oak, gray and black soil with some fine hammock ; 
a beautiful country. One grist steam mill and two water mills. A pros- 
perous people live hei*e. 

Fort Call. — One of the old land marks of Indian history. Fertile, 
mulatto cla}' soil, pine and hammock. On some farms corn yields 20 to 30 
bushels per acre on natural soil. 

Providence. — The oldest settlement in the county ; centre of choice 
belt of productive and thickly-settled country. A very prosperous place 
in ante-bellum days. Within two years $15,000 have been invested b}' im- 
migrants. One saw-mill, 2 water-mills, 8 cotton gins, 10,000 orange trees, 
and 40,000 pounds of home-raised bacon in the district. In the village are 
five stores; value merchandise sold, 1881, $20,000. Handles nearly 3U0 
bales Sea Island cotton each season. 

WoRTHiNGTON SuLPHUR SPRING. — This Spring, in western portion of 
county, forms a clear, deep basin 40 b^'^ 15 feet. Lands around are best 
class pine and hammock. Here, as elsewhere in the county, are remarkable 
" sink holes." One, a few miles southwest of Sampson lake, in the open 
pine woods, forms a fearful, precipitous cavity deep into tiie earth. It is 
100 yards in diameter at surface, and is a wonderful phenomenon of nature. 

Lake Butler is the county seat. Lands around are productive, suit- 
able to all crops and fruits that grow in the count}'. Four stores ; value 
merchandise sold, 1881, $25,000. The place is improving, and needs only 
railroad connection to develop a prosperous town. Within two years there 
have been 100 exchanges of real estate, and $20,000 invested by immigrants 
in the neighborhood. In the district are raised annually 50,000 pounds of 
home-cured bacon. There are 6 water-mills, I steam mill, 4 cotton gins, 4 
shops, 10,000 orange trees, 40,000 nursery stock. 

Live Stock. — Yalue, 1880, $117,813. Horses,, mules, cattle, swine, 
sheep, goats and poultry look thriving. The range is good, and there are 
excellent beef and mutton. Every farmer can raise his supply of bacon. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 95 

Cost of Clearing Land. — Some simply girdle trees, barn logs that are 
on the ground, and break up with plows, making good crop first season. 
Where all timber is cut and stumps dug the cost varies, according to class 
of land and forest growth, from $10 to $30 per acre. 

Price of Lumber. — Best building material of yellow pine, $10 to $16 
per M. ; shingles, pine, $3 ; cypress, $4 per M. An able-bodied man can 
take axe, saw and a few simple tools, go into the woods, and in a f«w days 
" knock up '' a cabin that is comfortable in this climate. 

Brick. — There is clay in localities from which is made a fair quality of 
Florida brick. Price, $8 to $10 per M. 

Building Stone. — In the Fort Call and Providence country there is 
in abundance a lime and saud formation admirably adapted to building 
purposes. Taken out of the earth moist, it is easily sawed into blocks, au}^ 
size and shape desired, with a common cross-cut saw. It is porous, very 
light of weight when dry, haixlens and whitens with age. It is much 
cheaper than brick. 

Education. — Number schools, 44; 38 white, 1,4(11 pupils enrolled; 8 
colored, 264 enrolled pupils. Amount State aid, $8i)G.12; county fund, 
$1,964.12; private contributioiis, $920; board of teachers extra, $900; to- 
tal for school purposes, $4,680.24. School year commences October 1st, 
ends September 30th. Public terms, 3 months ; three-fourths of schools 
continue 6 to 10 months in the year. 

Churches. — Different denominations have organized churches through- 
out the county. 

Newspapers. — The Florida Te'egraij/i^ published at Starke. 

Free Masonry. — In the county are 4 lodges F. & A. M. ; total mem- 
bership 107, viz : Pine Hill. 26 : Bradford (Starke), 30; Providence, 25 ; 
Lake Butler, 26. 

Improved Order of Red Men. — First tribe in tlie State organized at 
Starke in 1880. Membership, 73. Four other tribes chartered in the State. 
Total membership I. O. R. M. in Florida, 200. 

Taxes. — 1881, State tax proper, $3,064.99 ; general sinking fund, 
$133.51; special sinking fund, $665.74; State school fund, $665.74 ; total 
State tax, $5,727.98. "County tax proper, $3,064.99; school. si,997.25 ; 
special, $665.74; total, $5,727.98. ^ 

Railroads. — The Atlantic. Gulf and West India Transit Railroad, run- 
ning from Fernandina on the Atlantic to Cedar Keys on the (Jnlf of Mexico, 
runs southwest across eastern border. An application lias been Hied by Sir Ed- 
ward Reed for a railroad from the St. Johns westward througli this count}'. 
A corporation, also, has been formed for building a road from Middleburg, 
on Black creek. Clay county, running east and west through tills county to 
Rowland's Bluff, on the Suwannee river. One or the other of these roads 
will be built, and choice bodies of land along tlie pr(rspective route can now 
be bought cheaply. 

The varied resources of Bradford county offer many pleasant and lu- 
crative inducements to the immigrant. The climate is free of gnats, mos- 



96 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

quitoes, sand-flies and malaria, and delightful the year round. In the great 
future of Florida Bradford will stand prominent among her sister counties, 
showering prosperity and happiness among her sons and daughters. 

Comer L. Peek, 
Sec'y Bradford Co. Agrl. and Fruit-Growers' Association, Starke, Fla. 

BREVARD COUNTY. 

Area 4,390 square miles, or 2,809,600 acres. Population in 1860, 246 ; 
in 1870, 1,215; in 1880, 1,486— white, 1,424 ; colored, 62. Number of 
schools, 14 ; children of school age, 264 — white, 251 ; colored, 1.3. School 
attendance, 127. School lands unsold, 58,508 acres. Number of acres im- 
proved land, 1,970. Horses and mules, 224 ; cattle, 39,632 ; hogs, 1,185 ; 
assessed value of property, $490,174. 

Hon. W. H. Gleason, in the Florida Agriculturist, says ; 

The county of Brevard is bounded on the north by the counties of 
Orange and Volusia, on the east b}^ the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the 
county of Dade, and on the west by the counties of Manatee, Orange and 
Polk. The Kissimmee river flows along its western boundary, and is navi- 
gable for over 100 miles. The St. Johns river rises in this county, and is 
navigable as far south as Lake Washington. The Indian river flows for 
over 120 miles near its eastern border, and is navigable its entire length. 
Three-fourths of the county is swamp and prairie, which affords fine pastur- 
age for stock. The Kissimmee and St. Johns river prairies are the most 
extensive and best stock range in the State. The entire county west of the 
St. Johns river, with the exception of a narrow, wedge-shaped belt of tim- 
ber land which extends down from the north between the St. Johns and 
Kissimmee river prairie, is one part prairie and savanna, interspersed with 
small cabbaa;e palm hammocks of only a few rods in extent. Large herds 
of cattle feed on these prairies and savannas, and are driven to Punta Rassa 
and then shipped to Havana. Many of the savannas will make excellent 
sugar lands when properly drained. All of these prairies are subject to 
overflows during the rainy season, and are unfit for general agriculture or 
fruit raising until they are properly drained. A contract for the drainage 
of these lands has been entered into b}" the State with the " Lake Okee- 
chobee Canal and Drainage Company." The company have commenced 
operations, and have constructed dredge boats, which are at work on the 
Kissimmee river and Lake Okeechobee. By the lowering of the lake four 
or five feet, it will reclaim from overflow a large amount of land in the im- 
mediate vicinity of it. During the rainy season the lake has a I'eservoir 
for the waters flowing down tlie Kissimmee river, there being ample fall for 
this purpose. The distance from the lake to the Caloosahatchie river, 
which is the outlet of one of the proposed drains, is only eight miles, with 
a fall of a little more than eighteen feet. The construction of a canal from 
the Kissimmee lake through Lake Mariano to Lake Washington, and from 
there across to Indian river at Eau Gallic, will keep the waters ofl" the prai- 
ries below Lake Kissimmee and at the same time make a steamboat route 
from the Gulf of Mexico via Lake Okeechobee and the St. Johns river to 
Jacksonville, and via Eau Gallic and the inland coast navigation to Fer- 
nandina via the Halifax river and St. Augustine. The work of connecting 
the inland waters lying adjacent to the coast will soon be completed, and 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 97 



give a river steamboat communication from Key West to Fernandina, pass- 
ing the entire length of the county. A railroad is now in process of con- 
struction from Palatka to Indian river, with its terminus at Titusville, the 
county seat. When these improvements are completed, it will give a great 
impetus to immigration, as there is no one county in the State that has 
greater resources and advantages than this. 

Indian river has long been celebrated for its oranges, which have the 
reputation of being the finest in the State, and bring from iifty to seventy- 
live cents per hundred more in the Cit}' of Jacksonville than oranges from 
an}- other section. The river is from one to four miles in width, and is a 
sheet of pure tide water, clear and transparent ; it resembles a lake more 
than a river, and is properly a sound. Its shores are generally free from 
swamp and marshes, and rise at an angle of from twenty to twenty-five de- 
grees, extending back from three to five miles to the St. Johns river prai- 
ries. In many places the shore rises abruptly and perpendicular fifteen to 
twenty -five feet above the river. The country has the api)earance of an endless 
park, the timber being principally scattering pines with grass growing un- 
derneath, witli an occasional hammock of magnificent live oak and cabbage 
palms. The orange belt is from one to three miles in width, and is along 
the margin of the river. West of this are the St. Johns prairies, which are 
unfit for orange culture, but afford fine pasturage. Tlie raising of stock, 
the culture of oranges and otlier fruits will become a united industry in 
this county. There are some fine, large live-oak hammocks filled with wild 
orange groves in the western part near the head of Indian river, and occa- 
sional belts of hammock land are scattered the entire length of that stream. 
The clli iate and soil are favorable for winter gardening, which, properl}^ 
conducted, will bring rich returns for the Northern markets, and for the 
supplies of the numerous hotels upon the St. Johns river. Injurious frosts 
seldom visit this part of the State, and vegetables are from four to six 
weeks earlier than on the St. Johns. In favorable localities pine-apples, 
guavas, bananas and other tropical fruits mature in the open air Every- 
where the climate is warm enough for vigorous winter growth ; grass grows 
green and ttowers bloom every month in the year. Honey bees are found in 
the forest trees, and do well. The cocoa-nui can be raised along the ocean 
beach in the southern part of the county. Sugar-cane arrives liere at its 
greatest perfection, tassels, and requires planting only once in from seven 
to ten years. 

For winter residences there is no place in the State where nature has 
provided superior sources of enjoyment. Theclimace from October to May 
is a perpetual Indian summer, commingled with the balmiest days of spring, 
but little interrupted by storms or fogs ; most of the time there is a gentle 
breeze coming inland from the even-tempered waters of the Gulf stream, or 
seaward from ofi" the extensive savannas of the upper St. Johns and Kis- 
simmee rivers. The nights are cool, the days invigorating and health re- 
storing. The morning sunrise opens up a scene of magnificent splendor as 
it emerges from among the white and fleecy clouds which ever hang over 
the Gulf stream in the eastern horizon, onl}^ to be equaled b}^ its glorious 
sunset, which fringes the clouds with a golden lustre. Bears, deer, turkeys 
and quail range in the pine woods and hammocks ; ducks, curlew and other 
water fowl along the rivers and lakes ; fish of the finest qualit}^ are found 
in all of the rivers and lakes, and in Indian river all of the different kinds 



98 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

of salt water fish, oysters and green turtle. Upon the ocean beach are 
found a great variety of beautiful sea shells. Lands upon Indian river, un- 
improved, can be purchased for from $10 to $20 per acre, according to loca- 
tion, back two or three miles at government price. Lands east of the St. 
Johns river are mostly owned b}' the Lake Okeechobee Caual and Drainage 
Company, and are sold at appraisements made by the company's agents. 

Persons desiring to go to the eastern part of the county should take 
the DeBary line of steamers at Jacksonville, get otf at Sanford and take 
the South Atlantic Railroad to Kissimmee City ; daily connections are 
made. There are only two post-offices west of the St. Johns river in the 
county — Lake View and Barrville. Those desiring to visit the Indian river 
country should also take the DeBary line of steamers at Jacksonville for 
Sanford, and there connect witli Hart & Smith's line of Steamers for Rock 
Ledge landing on Lake Poinsett ; stage here connects with steamers on In- 
dian river. The distance across by stage from Lake Poinsett to Indian 
river is three miles. Persons every day go from Sanford to Salt Lake by 
steamer, and then connect by stage with Titusville, (distance eight miles,) 
the county seat. The mail is carried up and down Indian river twice a 
week. The post-offices are Titusville, City Point, Rock Ledge, Georgiana, 
Eau Gallic, Melbourn and St. Lucia. 

CALHOUN COUNTY. 

Area, 1,160 square miles, or 742,400 acres. Population in 1870, 998 ; in 
1880, 1,580. Number of public schools, 9; children of school age, 607 ; 
whites, 535 ; colored, 72 ; school attendance, 25 ; unsold school lands, 
15,857 acres. Number of improved acres, 1,987. Horses and mules, 164 ; 
cattle, 5,451 ; sheep and goats, 2,366 ; hogs, 3,235. Assessed value of 
property, $137,503. 

Blount's Town, on the Apalachicola river, is the county site. 

The Apalachicola river, on the eastern boundar}-, is navigable for large 
steamers all the year, and several lines of fine boats ply its waters from 
Apalachicola to Columbus, in Georgia, giving fine transportation facilities 
to the products of the county. 

The Chipola river, running through nearly the whole county, is navi- 
gable most of the year. Lake Chipohi, near the centre of the county, is 
sixteen miles long and from one to three wide. It abounds in fish. The 
Chipola river passes through it before emptying into the Apalachicola. 

Attention has been given to orange growing in this county, and with 
profitable success. Sev«-ral fine groves planted within the last decade are 
in a most flourishing condition. 

The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad, though not running through the 
county, will be near enough to give increased value in the northern part. 
The soil in the larger part of the count}- is of a very fine character. 

The Apalachicola river, flowing through the rich lands of Georgia and 
Alabama, reaches Florida laden with sediment, and for ages, during periods 
of overflow, has in the limits of Calhoun county made alluvial deposits cor- 
responding with the river bottom lands of the Mississippi, Red and Arkan- 
sas rivers. Nowhere in the Western valleys are richer bottom lands to be 
found than along the Apalachicola river, in the county of Calhoun. A bale 
of cotton or seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre is what the farmer 
counts on there. Lying back from the river lands are extensive plateaus of 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 99 

the very finest character of first-class pine lands. The latter are entirely 
free from palmetto and gall-berry growths. Their foundation is clay and 
the top soil is very rich in shell and other marine deposits that give the 
pine land of Calhoun count}^ a superiority over apparently like character of 
soil elsewhere. Farming there is a paying and attractive business, and 
commercial fertilizers are unknown. 

Another feature of interest to settlers is the excellent quality of the 
drinking water. Springs of excellent free stone water abound throughout 
the section. 

The pasturage, like all the " range " west of the Apalachicola, is supe- 
rior to any other pine region of the State, and cattle and sheep-raising is a 
money-making business. 

For further particulars of Calhoun county, we respectfully refer par- 
ties to O. P. Fannin, West Wynton Post-office, and Hon. J. H. McClelland, 
Chipola Post-office, Calhoun county, Florida. 

CLAY COUNTY. 

Area, 640 square miles; 409,600 acres. Population 18Y0, 2,028; in 
1880, 2,838. Number of public schools, 30; scholars of school age, 1,000; 
whites, 795 ; colored, 205 ; attendance, 685 ; amount of school land un- 
sold, 5,772 ; number of improved acres, 3,422. Horses, 502 ; cattle, 6,992; 
sheep and goats, 510; hogs, 4,176. Assessed value of property, $523,459. 

Green Cove Springs, situated on the St. Johns river^ is the county site, 
and is a great resort for visitors and invalids, who there find, among other 
attractions the curative properties of the celebrated sulphur springs. The 
town is rapidly becoming a little city. The Spring, the weekly county 
l)aper, is published here b}' the Bemis Bros. 

Black creek traverses the county and is navigable to Middleburg, in 
the northern portion of the county, and but twelve miles from the Atlantic, 
Gulf, and West India Transit Railroad, so that transportation is convenient 
both on its eastern and western boundaries. 

There are some good hammock lands in this county, and the pine 
lands are generally about the second class. In this county, near Black 
creek, are beds of rock said to be rich in phosphate of lime. 

Rapid improvement and development are conspicuous throughout this 
county. 

The soil in most places produces profitably, and fruit and vegetable- 
growing are attracting attention. 

Clay county is yet comparatively a wilderness ; in fact, so much so 
that one of its post-offices is known by that name, yet its location, diversity 
and character of soil, ease of access by rail and Avater, number of springs, 
lakes and rapid streams, together with its valuable timber and mineral de- 
posits, only require to be widely known to draw hither a dense population. 
About three years ago the first practical attempt to induce immigration was 
made, and the results thus far are satisfactory not only to those immedi- 
ately concerned, but to our whole people. Some of the statements sent out 
by our land agents were questioned and ridiculed b}^ rivals in Southern 
counties, but the severe cold of last winter put everywhere to a positive 
test, and the result is a successful demonstration of nearly all that has 
been claimed. 

The county has a frontage of about twenty-five miles on the St. Johns 



100 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

river, nearly the whole of it being high and available for settlements. Its 
average width from east to west is twenty-five miles. The greater portion 
of the land is rolling, and a point on its western border is said to be the 
highest in East Florida. Black creek, a stream of sufficient importance to 
be worthy of a better name, is navigable for large steamboats a distance of 
twenty-five miles to Middleburg, at which place the stream is divided into 
two forks, one of which has its source in the northwest corner and the other 
on the southern border of the county. Tiiis large stream, together with its 
almost innumerable confluents in the shape of creeks and branches, bearing 
nearly every kind of appellation except an elegant or appropriate one, rami- 
fies the whole county so completely that scarcely a tract of moderate area 
can be found which has not an outlet into its all-embracing current, and the 
result is, as ma^'^ readily be imagined, our county presents to the eye a se- 
ries ot gentle undulations. The various grades of soil are equalW distrib- 
uted throughout the county, all sections having, to a greater or less extent, 
a share of good and poor lands. 

Every kind of soil and timber common to the peninsula are found here, 
the best lands being unexcelled in fertility and capable of producing in 
abundance every species of tree, plant, fruit and flower adapted to the cli- 
mate of Florida. Corn, cotton, oats, potatoes, sugar-cane, peas and rice 
are the principal field crops. The yield of corn varies from 5 to 20 bushels ; 
sugar, 1,500 pounds and upwards per acre ; Sea Island cotton averages 
about 300 pounds (seed) per acre; sweet potatoes range in yield' from 100 
to 450 bushels per acre. Garden truck of all kinds is produced in large 
quantities, and the transportation facilities being unequalled by any point 
in the Slate, the business may be rendered more than usually profitable. 

Insect pests of everj- kind are less troublesome in this county than 
many others, particularly those fringing the sea coast. Epidemics and en- 
demic diseases are alike unknown. Water plentiful and good throughout 
the entire count}^, so that cisterns are not a necessity. Stock raising is 
carried on profitably to a large extent ; cattle, hogs and sheep ranging at 
will find ample sulisistence the year round. The citrus family is found to 
succeed admirably, large areas being devoted to orange-culture. 

One lailroad is in operation on the western border; another is in course 
of construction from east to west, and two more running from north to 
south are contemplated. 

Our lake district extends from Kingsley, in the west-central part of 
the county, to its southern border, and in the opinion of many is the most 
beautiful section, being identical in character with the best portions of Put- 
nam Orano"e and other " back-bone " counties. In its vicinity- lies a tract 
of oak scrub land, which is probably the most unreliable of all for cultiva- 
tion • it is, however, of limited extent, and is interspersed with tracts of 
choice hammock land. Kingsley, Brooklyn Lake and Wilderness are the 
principal settlements in the lake district. 

The Green Cove Springs and Melrose Railroad, now building, runs 
throutJ-h this region, and will render it available for settlement. 

ifio-hland Station, forinerly known as Trail Ridge, is situate on the 
western" edo-e of the county on the A. G. & W. I. T. R. R., and said to be 
1 he hio"hcst point on the peninsula. The new town of Melrose, in the south- 
west ^rart of the county, perched on a knob between large lakes, is the pro- 
iected tela iniis of the railroad shortly to be built from Green Cove Springs. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. lOl 

The country around it is exceedingly fertile, and only requires transporta- 
tion facilities to insure a rapid development. 

Orange Park, the new and promising town in the northeast corner of 
our county, is perhaps more widely known than any of our towns and set- 
tlements, owing to the persistent advertising of its projectors. Its growth 
has been rapid, and bids fair to be permanent. During its three years or so 
of existence many beautiful and costly dwellings have been erected, thou- 
sands of orange and other fruit trees planted, acres of strawberries and 
market truck of every description grown successfully, and no one seems 
anxious to sell out — a point which argues well for its future. 

The almost central position of Middleburg, together with its natural 
advantages, being located at the head of navigation on a magnificent stream, 
must inevitably make it the most important of our interior towns. Its de- 
lightful scenery will attract the attention of the tourist in search of the 
beautiful, and of necessity some preparation needs to be made in order 
that he may be taken care of properly and with profit. The rather strag- 
gling settlement is strewn about on the top of a high tongue of land, lying 
between the forks of Black creek, and we doubt if a more picturesque spot 
exists in Eastern Florida. Prior to 1871 it was the county site, and in 
course of time may again become so, there being so many advantages in 
its favor for that purpose. 

One of the oldest settlements on the banks of the St. Johns river is 
Hibernia, located in the southern part of what is known as Fleming's 
Island, one of the most fertile tx'acts in the county, containing several bear- 
ing groves and a large number of flourishing younger ones. Truck-grow- 
ing has been carried on there more successfully and to a greater extent 
than in any other portion of the county. Its reputation as a winter resort 
dates back nearly half a century. 

The principal business centre of the county is Green Cove Springs, the 
county site, known far and wide as a health resort, not only during the 
winter season but the entire year — its magnificent sulphur spring liaving a 
marvelous reputation for healing. Up to the present time the town's pros- 
perity has depended, in the main, upon the increasing flow of health and 
pleasure-seekers, but now that our railroads are beginning to assume tangi- 
ble shape, an increased progress must follow, in fact, has already com- 
menced. Settlers are coming in rapidly, locating homesteads and planting 
orange groves. Land is steadily increasing in value. Building is going 
on briskly, both in the town and vicinity. A brickyard has been in active 
operation during the past summer, and the product is claimed to be supe- 
rior to any yet manufactuied in East Florida. Three saw-mills — one of 
them a large one, thoroughly equipped for cutting for export— find sutfi- 
cient business to fully employ them. 

Immigration has the same effect here as elsewhere. The new-comer 
invariably has " orange mania," and his principal anxiety is to get a grove 
established as quickly as may be ; his actions are watched by his native- 
born neighbor, hitherto apathetic in regard to such matters, but who speed- 
ily becomes infected and follows in the wake. 

There is scarcely a township in the whole county that does not con- 
tain both United States and State lands. Desirable homesteads may be 
secured within five miles of the court-house, and a less distance from most 
of the other settlements. 

The Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Railroad owns a large 



102 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

quantity of land near its line of road, much of it valuable for cultivation 
and is oflered for sale at nominal rates. 

Up to within a short period settlers have been debarred from locating 
on land in the vicinity of the river, except in isolated instances, owing to 
the land being owned in large tracts by a few individuals who withheld it 
from market. The Orange Park and Bayard tracts are notable instances 
of this kind, their river frontage alone extending over twenty miles. Both 
these immense tracts are now open for settlement, and an examination of 
the few improved spots is all that is required to cause the locality to be 
appreciated. 

To those who have had so much to say about " frost line," " orange 
belt," &c., we extend a cordial invitatian to come and see for themselves, 
feeling sure that the wildest of shriekers cannot hope for a more severe 
test than that of last winter. 

Although we have no bearing groves of great extent in the county, 
there are many fine specimens and groves of small area distributed through- 
out its length and breadth, whose productiveness and thrifty appearance 
successfully demonstrate the adaptability of Clay county to orange-culture. 

Letters of inquiry concerning Clay county vshould b3 addressed to 
Hon. A. C. Morgan, and Mr. Thomas Roberts, Secretary Cla}^ County Ag- 
ricultural and Immigration Sosiety, Green Cove Springs. It is to these 
gentlemen we are indebted for the foregoing outline of their county. 

COLUMBIA COUNTY. 

Area, 860 square miles ; 551,400 acres. Population in 1840 was, 2,102 ; 
in 1850 was 4,808; in 1860, 4,646; in 1870, 7,335; in 1880, 9,589. Number 
of schools, 58 ; unsold school lands, 7,183 acres ; school age, 3301 ; white, 
1,671; colored, 1,631; attendance, 1,559; acres improved, 39,285. Horses 
and mules, 1.737; cattle, 10,390; sheep and goats, 2,145; hogs, 8,727. 
Assessed valuation of property, $953,576. 

The following description of the county has been kindly furnished by 
Mr. W. M. Ives, Jr. : 

Boundary and Population. — Tlie Suwannee river forms a portion of 
its northern boundary, and at a place known as the Shoals, al)Out ten and a 
half miles from Lake City, is one of the finest natural water powers to be 
found in the State, being so situated that, according to the opinions of ex- 
perienced men, a freshet would but slightly affect it, or for many days 
in a year. It will undoubtedly in time be utilized for a large manufactory, 
if water power is preferable to steam. 

Santa Fe River — The Santa Fe river on the south is navigable for 
small steamers to a point called Fort White. About twenty-four miles 
south of Lake City, upon this river, above the present point of navigation, 
two mills have been erected, one by Mr. Charles McKinney, near Joella, 
twenty-nine miles south of Lake City, and the other owned by Mr. G. 
M. Whetstone, at Leno, twenty-one miles south of Lake City, at a point 
known as the Natural Bridge, from the fact that the river sinks and for 
some distance passes under ground. These mills furnish lumber to the ad- 
joining country, and the grist mills grind the corn of the neighborhoods. 

An Excellent Mill Site. — These streams, together with minor 
streams and the numerous lakes to be found in nearlj^ all localities, afl'ord 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 103 

water for such stock as are allowed to run at large, aud abound in fish, 
which the citizens have much sport and profitable pleasure in taking in the 
proper seasons. One of these lakes, two and a half miles west of Lake City, 
has a canal cut at its eastern side by Messrs. Charles H. Ross and Adam 
J. Smith. The canal is less than a quarter of a mile long, yet gives about 
twenty-seven feet fall and drives a saw-mill, gins, grist-mill and rice- 
cleaner, owned by Messrs. John V. Brown and A. J. Smith, the lake sup- 
plying a sufficiency of water at all seasons as it now stands, yet the volume 
of water could be largely increased at very small expense by turning a por- 
tion of the water of Falling creek into the lake. 

Soil. — No locality in the State has a greater diversity of soil than Co- 
lumbia county ; a portion is low and flat, known as the " flat-woods ;" much 
of it is level pine land, and in some places more elevated it is rolling or 
uneaven ; upon the margins of the rivers, creeks and some of the lakes 
there is considerable hammock or hard timber growth. Underlying in the 
northern and western parts is a soft sandstone, which can ba used for 
building purposes, and which also doubtless contains valuable fertilizing 
properties, which would be avalable if the stones were crushed. In some 
parts clay lies near the surface, and from this very fair samples of brick 
have been made, the first about 1847, are still to be seen standing in the 
chimneys in which they were placed. Within four years several brick 
houses have been built in Lake City from brick burned in the vicinity, and 
in time it is very probable that the business houses in the town will all be 
built of home-made brick. Messrs. Thompson & Hart are now extensively 
engaged in the business, and will contract for building, so that parties who 
desire brick houses in this locality need not go from home for material or 
workmen. The soil is adapted to the growth of such field crops aud vege- 
tables as are grown throughout the State. Sea Island cotton does well 
here, and is the chief money crop. Corn is profitable, and the farmers usu- 
ally make enough to supply the home demand. In some places rice grows 
finely, and is valuable as a forage crop. Not many varieties of fruit liave 
been tried here, because the people have devoted their tim:; principally to 
growing cotton. 

Fruits. — Oranges are grown, and those who have given them attention 
have found them profitable. At the State Fair in Jacksonville, in 1877, this 
count}^ obtained a premium for her exhibit of this fruit. Peaches do re- 
markably well here, and throughout the State Columbia has the re|)utation 
of producing as fine as are grown in the State, and though this fruit has 
been grown since the first settlement was made, but two failures of the crop 
have been known. Peaches from this count}' have at times sold in New 
York at $8 a box. Several varieties of grai)es have been introduced vvhicli 
do finely, and people are pa3ing moi'e attention to their cultivation each 
year. Mr. O. 8. Cotton, living nine miles south of Lake Cit}', has a num- 
ber of acres planted in Black Hamburg grapes, which bear finely and ripen 
evenly. The Scuppernong grape has received more attention than any 
other. Mr. J. C. Bates has a number of apricots in bearing, which nursery- 
men have pronounced as doing finely. Several other parties have a few trees 
of this fruit. All varieties of plums which have been tried do well hare. I 
have seen a single orange tree bear 3,500 oranges in a season, and a mer- 
chant informs me that last winter he sold for one' party the fruit of three 
trees which netted the owner $154, besides some fruit saved for home use, 



104 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

which is evidence that this fruit might be made profitable. There are no 
orange groves in the county, but the people generally have planted a few 
trees, and where the trees have been cared for they usually bear well ; how- 
ever, a cold winter ma}^ be expected about once in nine years, which will be 
severe enough to injure the trees and cut ofl!" at least one crop of this fruit. 
Samples of oranges from this county received the premium at the State 
rairinl87T. 

This is a farming section of the State. It is by the growing of cotton 
principally that the majority of the people live, consequently less attention 
is paid to fruits than should be. 

Grasses. — Dr. T. C. Griffin has tried quite a number of grasses and 
forage plants, experimenting for the welfare of the county. Among these 
he says the Guinea grass does very well ; the Johnson grass is the best hay 
and pasture grass. The Alfalfa does well, but is injured by very wet sea- 
sons, and the Mexican clover beats them all ; that it produces more forage 
per acre than anything he has seen tried, and is just the thing for Florida. 
It is adapted to a sandy soil — the richer the land the greater the yield — 
and all stock feed upon it. 

Rice.— Among the staple crops rice has received considerable atten- 
tion, and three inventions for rice cleaning have been patented, or patents 
applied for by citizens of this county. The crop is very profitable, as it 
can be grown upon land too low for corn or cotton, yields well, an 1 every 
portion of the plant is useful for forage. 

Post-offices. — There are ten post-offices within the cxmty, viz : Lake 
City (money -order), Benton, Blouu 's Ferry, Leno, Mikesville, B.irrsville, 
Mt. Tabor, Mt. Carrie, Suwannee Shoals, Dowling, txivl [clu'tuckaee. 

Transportation. — A line of steamers on the Santa Fe river furnishes 
transportation of merchandise from Cedar Keys on the Gulf, and enables 
merchants in that locality to purchase and sell at prices corresponding 
with those along the lines of railroad, particularly such supplies as farmers 
generally need. 

The J. P. & M. and the Florida Central railroads, now consolidated in 
the Florida Central and Western Railroad, under the control of Sir Edward 
Reed, extends from Jacksonville via Baldwin, where it intersec s the A. G. 
& W. I. T. Railroad, to Lake City, and thence westward to Chattahoochee 
on the Apaiachicola. where it connects with the Pensacola and Atlantic, 
under the control of the Louisville and Xashville Railroad, to Pensacola* 
and thence west and north to New Orleans and the Montgomery connec- 
tions north and east. At Live Oak it connects with the Florida Branch 
Railroad, which connects the Florida system of railroads with that of Geor- 
gia and their connections, thus making Columbia county accessible to all 
principal points in the United States. 

The Florida Southern Railroad is now in coui-se of construction, having 
been chartered from Lake City to Charlotte Harbor on the Gulf. When 
it is completed it is very probable that a road will be built from Lake City 
to Macon, Georgia, as it would save distance to Northern points and tra- 
verse a region abounding in supplies of timber, &c., which at present is not 
accessible to an}^ lines of transportation. Such a line would pass near the 
White Springs on the Silwannee river, and thus aid in bringing to the at- 
tention of the public that noted spring. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 105 

Market Gardening.— Market gardening has received considerable at- 
tention, and yearly it has been demonstrated that Lake City can ship many 
kinds of early fruits and vegetables as early as the markets require them. 
The most profitable being peas, beans, cucumbers and tomatoes, so far as 
they have been tried, though many other vegetables might be equally as 
profitable, but have not been tested. 

Water. — Good water is a great object with settlers. If there is any 
part of the State where it can be found, it is in this county, except in a 
portion of the southwestern part, where limestone underlies the surface. 
Upon the borders of the numerous lakes many springs are found, which 
aflbrd excellent water ; and most families are supplied b}^ digging wells, 
.varying in depth from eight to sixty feet, and from these water obtained 
is usually impregnated with lime or other substances, which would render 
it disagreeable for drinking or other purposes. 

Timber. — Comparatively little of the magnificent pine forest which 
covers this part of the State has been touched for turpentine, and only that 
immediately upon the railroads and water-courses has been cut for timber. 
Six saw-mills in this county ship lumber, and it is safe to figure the present 
daily exports at fift}' thousand feet, which produces quite a revenue, sup- 
porting man}^ families ; the present price for such lumber being about 
eleven dollars a thousand feet delivered upon the railroad cars, without 
freight, and freight is about twelve dollars a car-load to Jacksonville. 

"liiome mills, especially upon the water-courses, sell to the settlers at 
ver}' low figures. Mills are convenient to neai'ly every locality', and settlers 
can get building material about as cheap in this county as in any part of 
the State. 

Lands. — There are large bodies of government lands for sale or home- 
stead on the same terms as in other sections of the State, and quite a num- 
ber of the citizens are familiar with the localities, and take pleasure in 
giving strangers information in regard to lands. 

Good farming land can be purchased from individuals at prices ranging 
from $1.25 to $S an acre, owing to locality and improvements. Much of the 
best lands are still covered with timber, which, at the present rate of set- 
tlement, must soon become marketable, and at the prices now paid the tim- 
ber on the land accessible to saw-mills is worth as much or more tlian the 
prices asked for the lands. 

Inhabitants — The inhabitants are principally the first settlers or their 
descendants, and are generally contented and satisfied with the country. 
Many will sell their lands to' re-invest in the same neighborhoods ; many 
are willing to sell part of their possessions, but few desire to sell out and 
leave. 

Insects. — Insects are not so numerous or annoying as to attract much 
attention, some 1 )calities being almost entirely free from mosquitoes, while 
others have them to bear with. It is just about as easy to find a location 
free from such pests as it is to go among them. Sand-flies, the plague of 
the coast, are very rarely seen or felt. 

Lake City. — Lake City is the county site, situated on the Florida 
Central and Western Railroad ; it has a population cf 1,000 within a mile 
of the court-house. There are eight churches, two public schools and quite 



106 Florida — Its Climate., Soil and Productions. 

a number of private schools ; among the latter the St. James Female 
Academy, under the care of Rev. C. S. Snowden, is fast acquiring notice as 
an institution adapted to the wants of the public. Three ginning estab- 
lishments prepare all the seed cotton brought to town for market. Thomp- 
son & Hart have, in addition to t leir gins, a rice huUer, a saw-mill, planing 
mill, turning lathes, scroll saws, &c., and are prepared to contract for build- 
ing brick or wooden buildings, as they have a brick kiln within two miles 
of town. Merchandising is the principal business, and the exports for the 
year ending January 1, 1881, were as follows : 

4,635 bales Sea Island cotton, estimated at $100 per bale average $463,500.00 

66 bales Upland cotton, estimated at $40 per bale average 2,640.00 

1,432 tons cotton seed, estimated at $13 per ton 18,635.90 

10,611 pounds of wool, at 30 cents per pound 3,183.30' 

35,868 pounds of hides, at 11 cents per pound 3,945.48 

9,016 crates of vegetables, at $1.50 per crate 13,524.00 

2,301 crates of oranges, at $1.50 per crate 3,451.40 

534 cas<-,s of eggs, 30 dozen to the case, at 12^ cents per dozen 2,092.50 

198 coops of chickens, 25 to the coop, at 25 cents per head 1,237.50 

154 coops of turkevs, 12 to the coop, at $1 per head 1,848.00 

199 barrels of syrup, at $10 per barrel 1,990.00 

122 barrels of sugar, at $14 per barrel 1,708.00 

901 pounds of wax, at 23 cents per pound 180.20 

13 barrels of honey, 30 gallons to the barrel, at 50 cents per gallon 195.90 

163 bushels of rice, at $1 bushel 163.00 

672 bushels of corn, at 80 cents per bushel 537.60 

588 bushels of oats, at $1 per bushel 588.00 

654 bushels of field peas, at $1 per bushel 654.00 

234 barrels of potatoes, at $2 per barrel 474.00 

6 car-loads of melons 600.00 

10 bushels of wheat, at $1 per bushel 10.00 

6,580 vegetable crates, at 12^ cents 822.00 

Total valuation of exports $522,869.51 

The export of lumber is not included in the above, and it may excite 
some comment that such small shipments of syrup, sugar, corn, rice, &c., 
should be embodied. It is given as an evidence that the farmers not only 
raise a sufficiency of these articles for home consumption, but have a sur- 
plus to market. 

The telegraph office at this place emplo3^s five operators, a manager and a 
superintendent. The number of deaths last year from all causes, in the entire 
population, amounted to eight, or one-half of one per cent. There are three 
small lakes within the town, and seven others within three miles ; still, few 
are affected by malarial diseases from these. On the contrary, I know of 
no healthier community than this, situated in the midst of these fresh water 
lakes. Fish are abundant, and good sport can be had at most seasons of 
the year taking the fresh water trout or black bass. 

At this point the cultivation of early vegetables for Northern markets 
has assumed such proportions that transportation companies have appre- 
ciated its importance, and the growers of truck consider it a permanent 
business. 

The immense amount of cotton vseed annually shipped from here war- 
rants the belief that an oil mill will soon be put up, as this is an accessible 
point to much of the seed, and only one freight will be necessary to trans- 
port the product of the mill. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 107 

One newspaper, the Reporter, is published, having been established 
in 1875. 

Within this town are several driven wells of about twenty feet depth, 
which supply excellent free-stone water. The ordinary wells are open 
wooden curbs sunk from eight to fifteen feet, affording very good water. 

There is usually a demand for dwellings for rent. Quite a number 
could be rented if conveniently built. 

Professions. — The professions are tolerably well represented, but this 
is not a very inviting point to doctors or lawyers ; the amount of litigation 
is small, and the population usually too healthy to enrich the physicians. 

Bonds. — The great drawback to immigration has been a bonded debt 
contracted in aid of the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad. This 
has been compromised at thirty cents on the dollar, and new bonds will be 
issued, bearing six per cent, interest per annum, to the amount of the share 
of the territory of this county, and will approximate $4,000 principal, pay- 
able in five, ten, fifteen and twenty years. 

Property. — The taxable property of the county this year amounts to 
one million dollars, and at the present rate of increase in values and im- 
provements this will soon be doubled, as the present year is a gain of three 
hundred thousand dollars of taxable property over last year. The rate of 
taxation last year was $1.65 per $100 for Stale, county, school and building 
purposes, and it is very probable that that rate will never b^ exceeded. 

There are few counties more accessible to transportation, none health- 
ier, land is cheap, and nearly every inducement offered by other localities 
in the State are found here. 

With the present interest in Florida, and the tide of immigration turn- 
ing to the State, there can be no reason why this favored locality should 
not put on new life, receive her share of the general benefits, and develop 
the various and important interests peculiar to it. 

DADE COUNTY. 

Area, 7,200 square miles, or 4,608,000 acres. Population in 1840 was 
446; in 1850, 159; in 1860,83; in 1870, 85; in 1880, 257. Number of 
schools, none ; school lands unsold, 29,325 acres ; school age, 49 ; acres 
improved land, 24; horses and mules, 31; assessed value of pro|)ert3^, 
$25,740. 

The following descrijition from W. H. Gleason, of Biscayne Bay, gives 
a reliable account of the county : 

Dade county has about 150 miles of sea coast, along which are four 
light-houses — one at Jupiter Inlet, one at Cape Florida at the entrance of 
Key Biscayne bay, oue at Fowey Rocks, and Cary's Fort reef light, which 
is situated a little to the northwest of Elliott's key. The two last-named 
light-houses are built of iron, and situated upon the reef about five miles 
from laud. There are also four life-saving stations, furnished with supjilies 
for the benefit of persons who might be wrecked. 

Running parallel with the coast are bays, rivers and sounds, which are 
separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of laud varying from twenty 
rods to one mile in width. These inland waters are separated from each 
other by isthmuses of low savannas, which are entirely overflowed during 
the rainy season. The waters are salt, as the tides of the ocean flow in and 



108 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

out of these various inlets. The principal ones are St. Lucie sound, Jupiter 
river, (these are only continuations of Indian river,) Lake Worth, Hills- 
boro river, New river, Key Biscayne bay and Card's sound. These are all 
well supplied with fish of various kinds, among which are the sheep-head, 
snapper, grouper, blue fish, barracouta, mullet, sea trout and Jew fish. Span- 
ish mackerel and king fish are caught in the vicinity of Cape Florida by 
trolling outside during the winter months. Green turtle and other A^arieties 
of turtle are caught in Key Biscayne bay. Card's sound and Jupiter river 
during the months of May and June. They frequently come ashore in the 
night and deposit their eggs in the sand on the sea beach. Key Biscayne 
bay and Card's sound are well supplied with sponge, and a great resort for 
sponge fishers from Key West, who gather large quantities of it on the 
Florida coast. Jupiter river is famed for its fine oysters, which are found 
there in great abundance, and are of fine flavor. In the St. Lucie sound 
river there is caught the Manatee or Sea-cow, some of which weigh 800 or 
900 pounds. This is the only place in the United States where they are 
known to exist. Coral and a great variety of sea shells and sea ferns are 
found along the coast and reefs. Vessels drawing eight feet of water can 
enter Key Biscayne bay and come to the wharf at Soldier's key or Cape 
Florida ; and those of five feet draught can run up the bay about fifteen 
miles, and also enter the bay at the west end of Elliott's key. The bar at 
New river inlet and Hillsboro inlet are constantly shifting^ and it is very 
seldom that vessels can enter drawing more than three feet of water. 
Within the last few years an inlet has been made at Lake Worth by the 
settlers residing upon it, and vessels drawing five feet of water can pass 
over the bar. The lake, however, is only navigable for vessels drawing three 
feet of water. Jupiter inlet can be entered by vessels drawing seven feet 
of water at high tide, and the water is deep inside the bar. The Okeechobee 
Canal Company propose to make an inlet opposite the mouth of the St. 
Lucie river, if this is done, and proves successful, it .will be of great 
benefit to this part of the State. This county has within its limits Lake 
Okeechobee and the Everglades. The country lying north of the Ever- 
glades and along Key Biscayne bay is for the most part rocky pine land 
with an occasional hammock, and is elevated from fifteen to twenty feet 
above the level of the ocean. The rock immediately adjacent to the bay is 
oolite limestone, but as you approach the Everglades it becomes a soft rock, 
and is broken into fragments in many places. The shore of the bay north 
of the mouth of the Miami river gently rises at an angle of about twenty 
degrees. South of the Miami river in many places are perpendicular cliffs 
running parallel with the bay, and generally separated from it by a savanna 
from twenty to eighty rods in width. This savanna in many places is 
skirted, next to the western edge, with a narrow belt of mangroves, which 
grows to the height of from thirty to fifty feet. As you approach the 
southei'u extremity of the bay and Card's sound, the savanna grows wider 
and expands to the width of five or six miles, leaving only a narrow belt of 
pine land between it and the Everglades. These, however, are soft and 
marshy for some distance back from the belt of mangroves skirting the 
bay and Card's sound. The lands north of the Miami river are less rocky 
than the lands south of it, and nearly disappears at the head of the bay. 
The Florida arrow-root, the coontie of the Indians, grows spontaneously 
upon the rocky lands, and yields a farine which compares favorably with 
the best Bermuda arrow-root, and the gathering and prepai'ing of it is quite 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 109 

profitable. It grows about the size of the ruta-baga, and. in man}- places 
from 100 to 150 bushels can be gathered froib an acre. It contains about 
sixty-four percent, of starch according to analysis made by the Agricultural 
Department. It is prepared and manufactured in the same way as potato 
starch. The savannas and prairies bordering upon the Everglades have a rich, 
alluvial soil, and have been formed by the recession of the water from 
evaporation or upheaval of the coast line ; the latter is the more probable 
cause, for between the Everglades and Biscay ne bay, where the dip of the 
rock can be seen, the work of upheaval by subterranean forces is very mani- 
fest. These prairies comprise some of the richest land to be found any- 
where in the United States, and have a productive capacity for every variety 
of vegetable life grown in the tropics. 

Quite a number of streams flow from the Everglades and cut their way 
through the rocks to Key Biscayne bay, and are generally from one to five 
miles in length. The longest of them are the Miami, Little river, Arch 
creek and Snake creek. Arch creek takes its name from a natural bridge 
which is formed by the stream cutting its way under the rock. A boat can 
pass under it at an ordinar3^ stage of water. At the head of the Miami 
river are rapids for a distance of about twenty rods, with a fell of about 
five feet. All of these streams are very clear water, and are from six to 
ten feet deep, and flow with great rapidity during the rainy season, and 
many fine springs of chalybeate waters are found near their banks. The 
keys are mostly rocky, with the exception of Key Biscayne, which is quite 
sandy. There is no fresh water on any of them. They are good lands for 
pine-apples and cocoanuts, but too rocky for general cultivation. The wa- 
ters of Key Bisca3Mie bay are very clear, and the scene^y^ is not surpassed 
in the State. 

New river, which enters the ocean about twenty miles north of Key 
Biscayne bay, is about fifteen miles long, and one of the principal outlets 
to the Everglades. It is about twenty rods in width, and from ten to 
thirty feet deep. There are no settlements upon this river, which is owing 
to the fact of the difficulty of getting over the bar. There are some good 
lands upon its banks, principally pine woods. There was quite a settlement 
here oi\ce, but the settlers were driven out by the Indians, and quite a num- 
ber killed. Since the war it has been the resort of beach combers at vari- 
ous times and fugitives from justice from the more northern part of the 
State. Since the establishment of the life-saving station in this vicinity 
for the protection of shipwrecked persons and property they have left. 
Hillsboro river, as its name implies, runs through quite an elevated 
country and enters the ocean about fifteen miles above New river. The bar 
at its mouth is continually shifting, and is difficult to enter. There are no 
settlements upon it, but there is a life-saving station about midway between 
its mouth and Lake Worth. Lake Worth is about eighteen miles long, and 
at least one-half of the inhabitants of the county live u[)on this lake. The 
settlement is principally iqjon its eastern shore upon a narrow belt of land 
lying between the lake and the ocean. There are some very tine hammock 
lands, which are being rapidly improved. The inhabitants are principally 
engaged in the culture of pine-apples, cocoanuts and vegetables. 

Jupiter inlet is about eight miles north of Lake Worth, and is one of 
the main entrances to Indian river. The strip of land lying between Jupi- 
ter inlet and Gilbert's bar, known as Jupiter island, is about half a mile 
wide and eighteen miles long. There is some excellent hammock land upon 



110 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



this island, and it is elevated some thirty feet above the ocean. Indian 
rivei', which is here called Jupiter narrows, is about half a mile wide, and 
its western bank is about fifty or sixty feet high, and covered with a dense, 
low scrub, not more than two or three feet high. When viewed from the 
island these heights remind one of the green pastures of the North — they 
are always of the same color, a beautiful green. The river is full of oysters, 
and at the inlet is the finest fishing on Indian river. 

In many places on the island rocks crop out, and for about six miles 
north of Gilbert's bar both sides of the river are skirted by tall mangroves. 
Immediately south of the St. Lucie river and west of Jupiter are some 
very fine sugar lands, mostly covered with cabbage palmetto. 

The Everglades are covered with a dense growth of grass from three to 
eight feet high. On its eastern borders are innumerable islands, from a few 
rods to a few acres in extent, and covered with a dense growth of tropical 
trees, with an undergrowth of cotton-plum bushes and grape vines. These 
islands are very fertile, and are the homes of the remnant of the Seminole 
Indians, who cultivate and grow corn, tobacco, sugar-cane, beans, pumpkins, 
sweet potatoes and bananas. Tlie Lima bean is here perennial, and bears 
continually for a number of years. The Everglades are really an expansion 
of Lake Okeechobee. During the rainy season the lake has no outlet ex- 
cept from the streams flowing from the glades. The lake is eighteen feet 
and the Everglades near Biscayne bay seven feet above tide water. They 
are underlaid with a soft limestone, covered over with a rich vegetable mold 
from six inches to three feet deep. In some places the rocks crop out on 
the surface. During the dry season the water nearly disappears ; in the 
rainy season it is from two to four feet deep, and is very cool, clear and 
pure. Fish, terrapin and soft shell turtle are found in the glades. It has 
been found by surveys made by the War Department and officers of the 
land survey that the whole bed of the Everglades has an elevation much 
above the level of the ocean, and the practicability of draining this vast 
region is now a matter about which there can be very little question. The 
accomplishment of such a work would make available for the purpose of 
agriculture over 3,000,000 acres of the finest body of land in the United 
States. These lands can be drained and prepared for the plow for less 
money per acre than it costs to clear timber land. Sugar plantations can 
be made here for one-half the money required in Louisiana, with the ad- 
ditional advantage that the Everglades are free from frost and is the natu- 
ral home of that plam. The lands when once reclaimed will produce 
all the products of the East and West Indies. 

The timber growing upon the hammock lands in this count}^ is of a 
tropical character and evergreen ; the most common are mastic, satin-wood, 
and crab-wood, a variety of live oak. 

Sea Island cotton is grown here ; is a perennial, and can be picked sev- 
eral times each year. Grapes flourish well and are not subject to mildew. To- 
bacco raised here will compare with the best in Cuba, i^ananas, plantains, 
coffee, date, pine-apples, cassava, arrow-root, c©coanuts, oranges, lemons 
and limes all grow and thrive well, as do all the vegetables of the Northern 
and Middle States, especially onions and Irish potatoes. Indigo, when 
once sown, becomes indigenous and rattoons as it is cut off. Sugar-cane 
also rattoons and requires replanting only once in from seven to ten years. 
The most profitable crop for a person to engage in will, to a great extent, 
depend upon the land one selects and the knowledge one has for any partic- 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. Ill 

ular specialty. Garden vegetables are very remunerative when raised for 
the early Northern market, as tomatoes and other vegetables can be raised 
every month in the year. Pine-apple culture offers great inducements, as 
one begins to realize sooner from it than any other truit. Plants set out 
in September, October or November bear in a year from the following June, 
and yield about 10,000 per acre ; they continue t© bear for five or six years. 
Thecocoanut possesses great advantages over most other fruit. It requires 
very little culture when planted upon the right kind of soil and in the 
proper location. It should be planted near salt water. It bears within 
from five to seven years, and at ten ^^ears is in full bearing. Lemons and 
limes as well as bananas will be profitable to grow in this county. The 
orange does as well here as in any part of the State, but there are so many 
other fruits that are more profitable than the orange, that can be raised 
here in consequence of the climate, that the orange will, without doubt, not 
receive the attention it does further north. Coffee can be cultivated with 
profit upon the rock land of Key Biscayne bay ; coffee plantations are in 
the near future. 

The climate of Dade county is uneaqualled for its equability and 
health fulness. Fort Dallas, on Ke}' Biscayne Bay, was for many years a 
militar}' point, and observations were kept for a series of years. The fol- 
lowing is taken from their report : 



January (5(3. 10 

February 60. 16 

March ' 70 30 

April 74.9y 

May 74.40 

June SO.'JO 



July 82.17 

August 83.47 

September 80.59 

October 77.91 

November 73.45 

December 69.37 



The Gulf Steam has a great influence upon the climate and vegetation 
of this section of the State, and gives it a tropical vegetation. As it flows 
from the Caribbean Sea, passes Cape San Antonio, the westernmost ex- 
tremities of the Island of Cuba, and runs between that island and the Flor- 
ida reefs ; it is about sixty miles in width, and after passing Cape Florida 
expands three hundred miles in width, running close to the Florida coast 
as far north as Jupiter Inlet, opposite to Lake Worth. F]asterly winds 
frequently drive the Gulf Stream waters against the beach. This gives the 
atmosphere a peculiar softness which is found nowhere else in Florida, the 
temperature of the Gulf Stream at Cape Florida being from 79 degrees to 
80 degrees. Like all other tropical countries Dade county has its wet and 
dry season. The wet or rainy season is during midsummer, which has a 
tendency to cool the atmosphere and render the summer months cooler 
than in the more northern poition of the State. T'he trade vvinds also, 
which extend as far north as Cape Canaveral, with their constant midday 
breezes, prevent any oppression from the heat of the sun during the middle 
of the day, and there is no time or season of the year that a white man can- 
not do a good day's work. 

The population of the county is about two hundred, and is nearly 
equally divitled between the settlement at Key Biscayne bay and Lake 
"Worth. The great drawback to its settlement has been its inaccessibility, 
and the difficulty of getting there. I'his will soon be removed, as the differ- 
ent inland waters lying adjacent to the Atlantic coast will soon be connected 
by a series of canals so that river steamers can run directly from Jackson- 
ville and St. Augustine to Key Biscayne bay. This work requires less than 



112 Flonda — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

Mty miles of canal, the longest of which is less than ten miles in length. A 
company has already been formed for tliat purpose, with an appropriation 
of land to aid in its completion. 

There are four post-offices in the county. Waveland, near the St. 
Lucie river, Lake Worth, Biscayne and Miami, the two latter being on 
Biscayne bay. There is a Catholic church at Biscayne ba}^, and a Luthern 
minister located at Lake Worth. 

Persons going to Key Biscayne ba}- should go via Key West, as the 
mail boat leaves there every Thursday for Biscayne. Steamers leave 
Cedar Keys and New York for Key West once a week. Those going 
to Lake Worth, the northern part of the county, should go by the way of 
Jacksonville and take one of the steamers of the DeBary Line for Sanford. 
This line connects with Hart & Smith's line of steamers which run twice 
a week from Sanford to Rock Ledge Landing, which is three miles from 
Indian river. Here you meet a carriage which will take you across to In- 
dian river. A mail boat runs from Rock Ledge to Eau Gallic, down as far 
as St. Lucie, twice a week, and from St. Lucie to Lake Worth once a week. 

DUVAL COUNTY. 

Area, 900 square miles, or 576,000 acres. ' Population in 1830, 1,970 ; 
in 1840,4,151); in 1850, 4,539; in J 860, 5,074; in 1870, 11,921; in 1880, 
19,431. Number of public schools, 54 ; acres of school land unsold, 4,841 ; 
of school age, 5,443; white, 2,293; colored, 3,150; school attendance, 
2,403; acres of improved land, 18,787. Horses and mules, 864; cattle, 
1,887 ; sheep, 347 ; hogs, 2,410. Assessed value of property, $4,673,981. 

We are glad to be able to submit the following paper on Duval from 
A. J. Russell, Esq., of Jacksonville : 

Duval county lies on both sides of the St. Johns river. About twenty-five 
miles from its mouth is the main entrepot to the State and her main city, Jack- 
sonville, which enjoys all the privileges afforded the metropolitan cities of the 
country. It is the seat of the United States District Court, is the principal 
distributing office for the mail of the State, has all the principal offices of 
the various Federal Departments of Government, has daily mails from all 
parts of the world and the State, and is the termini of the railroads from 
the North and West, and lines of steamers from the North and the upper 
St. Johns and the Ocklawaha rivers. 

For over thirtj^-flve miles her eastern shore is washed by the waters of 
the Atlantic, affording opportunities for summer residences. 

The bar, at the mouth of the St. Johns, is being removed by the Gen- 
eral Government, and in a few years the commerce of her chief city, Jack- 
sonville, will be connected with all the ports of the world, giving a grand 
opportunity for immense lumber interests, and affording a better and more 
profitable outlet for her products and those of the State than ever hitherto 
enjoyed. 

The count}^ is dotted all over with churches and chapels of all ortho- 
dox denominations, affording unexcelled religious opportunities. 

There are in successful operation within the county fift3^-one schools, 
conducted from five to eight months in the year, having in Jacksonville an 
excellent Grammar and High School, in which pupils may be finished for 
any ordinary business in life ; all open to the public. 

Her crops of long-staple cotton, sugar-cane, rice and market truck, 



Florida — Itx Climate^ Soil and Productions. H3 



cannot be excelled. Scarcely a square acre of land within her limits, ex- 
cept the very high black-jack ridges, that will not produce from tweuty-tive 
to forty bushels of rough rice. She has a first-class rice mill iu Jackson- 
ville, at which every bushel of rice may be sold readily from 90 cents to 
$1.30, according to quality. Her sugar and syrup finds a reatly market 
in Jacksonville and the cities of the neighboring States at very remunera- 
tive prices. Her fruits consist of oranges, bananas, peach, pear, and other 
small fruits, and while an occasional heavy frost or freeze retards the 
growth of the orange tree, there is rarely ever a tree killed downy while the 
oranges grown in Duval county are more hard}^ than those grown in the coun- 
ties below the frost line, and is universally prcmounced hy the shJDpers 
here and elsewhere to be more easily handled and preserved, and will resist 
decay much longer than others, and are of a decidedl3^ spicy and delicious 
flavor. 

The lands in Duval county are peculiarly adapted to market gardenino- 
and strawberry-growing, both of which are sources of quick and remunera- 
tive profits to the diligent grower. 

The very large and fine hotels, six in number, iu the city of Jackson- 
ville, accommodating thousands of persons, besides an almost innumerable 
number of private boarding-houses, at once form a daily market for these 
crops, both of which reach their maturity and perfection in the latter part 
of January and iu February and March. Besides this, being at the very 
wharves and warehouses of northern-bound steamers and railway's, places 
the products of our farms within two or three days of the great cities of 
the North, East and West, atfording the farmer facilities not exceeded by 
any portion of the South. Our vegetables are earlier than those of Georgia 
or South Caiolina, aud therefore give us the cream of these markets. 

The county of Duval is interspersed iu all its parts with be»is of luuri 
and phosphatic deposits, which, when properly combined by the intelligent 
farmer with other substances make the ver}'^ best fertilizer known. 

The count}^ is intersected with bold, navigable creeks having tide- 
water, the banks of which afford elegant and picturesque sites for residences 
and farms, and also excellent boating, both for pleasure and carrying. 
Such lands can be bought for from five to fifty dollars per acre, accordino- 
to locality and quality. Farm hands and skilled mechanics of every kind 
can find remunerative employment, and, if energetic, can at the same time, 
be acquiring a homestead and small farm. Duval county affords an excel- 
lent opporfcunit}^ to all who are seeking to make a home, while its climate 
is unexcelled, no one erer d^dng from sun stroke or from freezing ; health 
is all that could be expected, as the returns of her Board of Health will 
show from month to month, and the population is an hospitable one, givino- 
welcome to every honest, industrious immigrant, regardless of politics, re- 
ligious creed or sentiments. Here the Free Mason, the Odd Fellow, the 
Son of Temperance, the Knight of Honor, all ma}'- find lodges precisely 
the same as his home lodge, and where a warm and generous welcome awaits 
him. For a more detailed description of Duval county, apply to A. J. 
Russell, Chairman Executive Committee, Duval Immigration Society, en- 
closing stamp for repl3\ 

ESCAMBIA COUNTY. 

Area, 720 square miles, or 460,800 acres. Population in 1830,2,518; 
in 1840, 3,998; in 1850,J,35i;; in 18G0, 5,768; in 1870,7,817; in 1880, 



114 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

12,156. Number of public schools, 29 ; school lands unsold, 4,751 acres; 
children of school age, 3,000— white, 1,439 ; colored, 1,561 ; school attend- 
ance, 1,326; acres of improved land, 1,023. Horses and mules, 725; 
cattle, 6,193; sheep, 6,800; hogs, 3,163> Assessed value of property in 
1881, $2,666,079. 

Escambia county, the extreme western county of the State of Florida, 
has its capital at the City of Pensacola, the oldest town in the State, ex- 
cept St. A.ugustine. Pensacola increased its population 117 per cent, be- 
tween 1870 and 1880, and within the past two years its advancement has 
been phenominal, having at this time a popvilatiou of about ten thousand. 
Pensacola's remarkable deep water bay has given the city a commerce sec- 
ond to few cities in the Union. About six hundred ocean-going vessels 
seek its harbor each year, carrying an average of about 8,000 men in their 
crews, and it is a very common occurrence for Pensacola to have on the 
waters of its bay more ocean-going tonnage (steamships excluded) than 
any city south of New York Oit}^ A few years ago this commerce was 
almost entirely of lumber and timber, and was handled from November to 
May inclusive, but the current jear shows an astounding Increase in the 
number of steamships, and the summer fleet has been double what the win- 
ter fleets were a decade ago. Moreover, cotton, fertilizers, salt, brick, flour, 
oil cake, steel and iron rails, naval stores and other staple articles 
have been added to the exports and imports. Pensacola has a new Metho- 
dist Church and a Catholic Church (to cost $40,000) in process of con- 
struction, also a $30,000 court-house, and an opera-house to cost $60,000. 
Over $600,000 has been expended in buildings in the city within eighteen 
months, yal over half a million dollars more building is now in sight to 
be done within the next six months. With the completion of the Pensacola 
and Atlantic Road uniting the two sections of the Stale, Pensacola will re- 
ceive a new impetus. Besides the denominations named, the Baptists, 
Presbyterians and Episcopalians have comfortaWe churches. The public 
school is a large and commodious building. Among the manufacturing 
interests are four planing-mills, foundries, machine shops, ice factory, grist 
and flour-mills, wood and furniture factory, canning establishment and pot- 
tery, and in and near the city are saw-mills and brick-yards in large num- 
bers. The great want of the city is increased hotel accommodations. Two 
new brick hotels were built last year, but the improvement in this respect 
has not kept pace with the city's growth, and more hotels are needed. The 
water at Pensacola (like the greater portion of West Florida) is excellent. 
Wells are driven to a depth of eighty feet, through twenty feet of salt 
water, on the bay front, and the finest water secured, flowing from the pipes 
several feet above tide water. The health of the city is simply remarkable, 
the percentage comparing favorably with any section in the Union. Yellow 
fever has never been known in Pensacola except when imported, and a vig- 
ilant quarantine has excluded it for nine years, not a case being in the city 
or county during the dreadful epidemic year of 1878. 

The railroads of Escambia county are ihe Pensacola division of the 
Louisville and Nashville Road, runuiag to a junction with the Mobile and 
Montgomery Road at the Alabama line, forty-four miles. The Pensacola 
and Peruido, connecting Pensacola and Millview, a distance of eight miles, 
and the Pensacola and Atlantic, ten miles of which runs through Escambia. 
This last road is destined to develop West Florida, a large portion of which 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 115 



is almost a terra incognita. It will be a link in the shortest I'ail route be- 
tween the Pacific and the Atlantic, via New Orleans, Pensacola, West Flor- 
ida and Jacksonville and Fernaudina. 

The bluffs on Escambia Bay, East Bay, Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola 
Ba}'^, Bayou Texar, (pronounced Te-har,) ]3ayou Chico and Bayou Grande 
offer the most superb winter and summer homes in America, and they are 
being largely taken up by Ohicagoians. Here the orange will repay its cul- 
ture, while the other fruits and products mentioned later will thrive won- 
derfully. The happy resident in this «ielightful climate, genial in winter, 
cooled and braced by tlie delightful sea breezes in summer, need not confine 
his luxuries or his income to the products of mother earth, for at his very 
door are all the treasures of the briny deep. In addition to the shipments 
of the canning factory, Pensacola ships into the interior 10,000 barrels of 
fresh fish per annum. 

It has not been an agricultural county, and even the vegetables con- 
sumed at Pensacola a few years ago were imported from Mobile. The 
county has a fine clay subsoil, and it is being rapidly demonstrated that this 
clay is good for more than the manufacture of pottery ware, (which is made 
of superior quality,) rice, peas, potatoes and all kinds of vegetables can 
be grown with profit, while the soil seems to be specially adapted to straw- 
berries and watermelons. 

All over the county sheep and cattle grazing is fine, with an unexcelled 
water supply No test has been made of cotton, but with the aid of fertili- 
zers it is believed by competent judges that Sea Island cotton can be raised 
with success and profit. 

But Escambia's commanding location lies in its adaptability for fruits. 
Being fully twenty-four hours nearer Montgomer}', Nashville, Evansville, 
Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis and other North- 
western points than any other section of Florida, it is destined to become 
the Delaware of the South. In addition to peaches it will furnish these 
cities with LeConte pears, strawberries, melons, Japanese persimmons and 
vegetables. I'ecans grow here ; figs do finely, and one New Yorker has 
7,000 trees planted, expecting t>) establish a canning and packing establish- 
ment. Scuppernong and other grapes, pomegranates, quinces and plums 
grow with splendid yield. 

In Escambia are Millview, Muscogee and Molino, three pleasant mill 
villages, but besides Pensacola there is no incorporated town in the county. 
The arm}' and navy reserve in this county contains Forts Pickens and Mc- 
Rae, and the ruins of Fort Mcllae, also the Navy yard — all a source of in- 
creasing interest to visitors, while the sails visiting these points are unex- 
celled in the world. On the navy reserve are the pleasant villages of 
Woolsey and Wairington. One of the finest iron dry docks ever con- 
structed has just been put in place at the navy-yard. Additional appropri- 
ation has just been made by Coni^ress to secure twenty-six feet of water on 
Pensacola bar, (now twenty -two and a half,) and $200,000 has been made 
for a new custom-house and i)ublic building, and on all sides appears thrift, 
prosperity and progress in and about Pensacola, the ancient city by the sea. 
No better final can be given to this article than the following : 

A statement of shipment of lumber and timber from Pensacola during 
the year 1881, (1882 will largely exceed H81,) there cleared from the port 
529 vessels, aggregating 3 19. 857 tons. Great Britain took 3,669,703 cubic 
feet of hewed timber, 5,773,185 feet of sawed and 15,109,000 superficial feet 



116 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

of lumber; the continent of Europe 878,744 hewed, ISR, 888 sawed and 17,- 
078,000 superficial feet of lumber; Java, Africa and the Canary Islands, 
5,565 hewed, 193,595 sawed and 395,000 superficial feet of lumber; West 
Indies and South America, 39,908 hewed, 19,342 sawed and 21,663,000 su- 
perficial feet of lumber. Coastwise there were shipped 29,366 hewed, no 
sawed, 34,073,000 feet of lumber, making a grand aggregate of 11,366,396 
cubic feet of timber and 88,318,000 feet of lumber. This timber and lum- 
ber comes from one of the finest pine belts in the world, whicli takes in the 
northern fourth of Florida and the southern fourth of Georgia, Alabama and 
Mississippi, to be immensely increased by the opening of West Florida b}'' 
the Peusaeola and Atlantic Road, which also bids fair to make Pensacola 
the centre for naval stores, second not even to Wilmington, Delaware. 

FRANKLIN COUNTY. 

Area, 690 square miles, or 441,600 acres. Population in 1840. 1,030 ; in 
1850,1,561; in 1860, 1,904; in 1870, 1,256; in 1880, 1,791. Number of 
schools, 3 ; of school age, 610 ; white, 421 ; colored, 189 ; school attend- 
ance, 189. Acres of improved land, 130. Horses and mules, 29; cattle, 
1,950; sheep, 264; hogs, 247. Assessed value of property, $247,182. 

I^he territory' of this county, except a small portion on the west side of 
the Apalachicola river, near its mouth, is embraced in the extensive grant 
made by the Indians in 1819 to Forbes & Co., an English trading house, 
and IK known as a part of the "• Forbe's Purchase." 

Apalachicola, the count}'' site, is at the mouth of the great river of that 
name At present the lumber business is the leading industry. In ante- 
bellum times, and before the up-river country in Alabama and Greorgia was 
intersected by railways, large quantities of cotton were brou?;b': ^y cf.onpi. 
boats to this point and shipped thence to New York and New Orleans, it 
was hlien a flourishing place. When railroads turned the cotton bales to 
the ea-itward to be shipped from Atlantic ports, Apalachicola declined. 
Through the lumber business it is again entering into life and real estate 
again appreciating. The location of this little city by the sea is peculiarly 
healthful and pleasant In the early spring the town is quite a resort for 
excursionists down the river on the commodious boats from points inland in 
Georgia and Alabama. Much of the old spirit of hearty hospitality hangs 
about the old town, and while some of its busy life has departed, its air is as 
fresh and bracing and its seaside features as attractive as ever. The mill- 
ing business is on the increase, and will in time assume more consid?irable 
proportions. A brisk and profitable trade is also being done here in fish 
and oysters by boats up the river. Corn, salt and fertilizers are conven- 
iently and cheaply introduced by vessels coniing for lumber, and that 
would otherwise arrive in ballast. The spongers on the reefs, not far east 
of this place, find also at Apalachicola a convenient depot for supplies and 
the disposition of their catch, 

Very little agriculture is pursued in this county. Immediately along 
the river banks are some very handsome orange groves that give promise 
of inducing more extended investments in that direction. 

The IVibmie is a weekljr paper publ-ished at Apalachicola. 

We are glad to submit herewith a paper furnished by Mr. 0. H. Kelle}', 
the founder and moving spirit of the new port of P^io CarrabelU. situated 
in this county, on James Island : 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 117 



ST. JAMES ISLAND. 

This is one of tlie most attractive and important points on the Gulf 
coast. Tlie island is formed b}^ a tide-water bayou known as Crooked 
river, which connects with the Carabelle river at the west end and the Ock- 
lockonee river on the east. It is located about midway between St. Marks 
and Apalachicola. 

The island is the highest elevation on the coast between Pensacola and 
Tampa, ranging from twenty to seventy feet above the Gulf level. It is 
twenty-one miles in length, and averages about four miles in width. On it 
are several fresh water lakes well stocked with fish. The soil comprises 
the usual variety of the coast, embracing shell hammock, bay-gall and 
pine land. 

At the west end of the island the town of Ilio Carrabelle is rapidly 
building up, and becoming a milling point of importance. At this place is 
the well known Dog Island Harbor, claimed to be the best harbor on the 
Gulf coast. The entrance is by way of East Pass, through which ships 
drawing twenty feet readily enter and anchor in the harbor in twenty-four 
to twenty-seven feet of water, with mud bottom anchorage. 

Tributary to this harbor are the Chattahoochee, Flint, Apalachicola, 
Carrabelle, Crooked, Ocklockonee and Sopchopp\' rivers. From all of 
these streams both hewn and sawn timber is rafted or lightered to ghips 
loading here, and thence transported to Northern and foreign ports. The 
immense pine forests on these rivers are a mine of wealth to support the 
town which must inevitably become the Gulf port of Middle Florida. 

The soil on the mainland adjacent to the island is principally sandy, 
with a clay subsoil, and considered some of the most productive in the 
State. As yet the principal business is furnishing logs for the mills, and 
but few have given any attention to cultivating the soil ; yet those who 
have are well rewarded for their labor, finding a ready home market for all 
their produce. 

The best fisheries on the coast are on James Island and in the imme- 
diate vicinity. 

Owing to the location, the summers here are made agreeable by the 
regular Gulf breezes, and the island has long been known and popular as a 
summer resort. 

Being in the same latitude with St. Augustine the same crops can be 
produced that mature there. 

Crossing the Ocklockonee river by a short ferry, land communication 
is had with Tallahassee in a distance from Carrabelle of forty-five miles. 
Steamboat communication has also been established with St. Marks as well 
as Apalachicola. 

The population of Carrabelle at this time is between five and six hun- 
dred, most of whom have located here within the past two years. 

St. Teresa, the Long Branch of Middle Florida, is a delightful summer 
resort on the eastern end of St. James Island, where the Tallahassee people 
in large numbers spend the summer months, leading a cottage life, with 
Gulf breezes and bathing. 

GADSDEN COUNTY. 

Area, 540 square miles, or 345,600 acres. Population in' 1830, 4,895 ; 
in 1840, 6,992; in 1850, 8,784; in 1860, 9,396; in 1870, 9,802; in 1880, 



118 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

12,169. Number of schools, 43; amount of school land unsold, 1,317 
acres; of school age, 4,600; white, 1,619; colored, 2,983; attendance, 
1,464 ; acres improved, 39,949. Mules and horses, 1,286 ; cattle, 6,781 ; 
sheep, 1,735 ; hogs, 6,526 Assessed value of property, $916,135. 

Gadsden is one of the agricultural counties of Florida, and for many 
years has been among the prosperous places of the New South. Her lands 
are excellent, and have for years been a source of wealth to her citizens. 
No county in Florida, or, indeed, anj^where, has better facilities for water 
power than Gadsden. There is scarcely a township in the county that has 
not one or more water powers capable of doing the grinding, ginning, saw- 
ing and other domestic manufacturing for the neighborhood, and in many 
places these advantages are such that at no distant day the>^ must attract 
the attention of mill-men, who are on the lookout for eligible sites for man- 
ufactories in the South. Gadsden will be found to be possessed of won- 
derful resources when the now constructing railroads shall direct to her bor- 
ders the tide of immigration. We append a paper prepared for us by the 
Hon. C. E. L. Allison, of Quincy : 

Previous to the war in one year there was made an exported 5,000 
boxes, 350 pounds each, of tobacco from this county, realizing from 5 to 40 
cents per pound, according to grade, and netting between $300,000 and 
$400,000 at the barns. A crop of 15 boxes, two j^ears old, recently sold 
for 25 cents per pound. There are those who claim that this crop will be 
restored to the county in a few years, with the magnificent results of the 
past. 

Rice, peas, pindars and oats are increasing crops. Irish potatoes, cab- 
bages, onions and all the vegetables are luxuriant. Recent experiments 
have demonstrated that " truck-farming " will be a leading industry, and 
high hopes are entertained of the facilities that will be afforded transporta- 
tion by the completion this 3'ear of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad, 
from Chattahoochee, in this count}-, the present terminus of the Florida 
Central and Western Railroad, (which traverses this county,) through 
West Florida to Pensacola. A railroad to Carrabeile, via Chattahoo- 
chee, from some point on the Savannah, Florida and Western Railwa}-, 
Georgia, and traversing a portion of this county, is in process of construc- 
tion. 

Pasturages are good, being principally the common grasses that grow 
8pontaneousl3^ Wheat, barley and millet are excellent forages. Some 
fine horses have been raised, and the cows are of good size, healthy, and in 
good condition. 

Soil. — Uneaven and undulating in surface with a foundation of red clay, 
generally, and in many places appearing light, sandy and loamy, divided 
into hammock and piney woods lands. Hammock lands have a subsoil of 
gray-ash, mulatto, and a moist mixture of loam and muck. Pine^' woods 
lands have a subsoil of red and yellow clay and loam. There is what is 
known as the black soil. Substantial bricks made. Marl beds in some 
portions, but this is not by any means a limestone soil. Manures used — 
the commercial and compost. 

Woods. — White, red and live-oak, water and lily-oak, cherr}^ and black 
walnut, mahogany and silver-leaf bay, iron-wood, beach, birch, soft maple, 
curled white and red hickory, white and red cedar, e;/ press and magnolia, 
pride of India, dog-wood, sparkle-berry, yellow and pitch pine, poplar, gum, 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 119 

white and black ash and sassafras. Flowers of every description and char- 
acter in all seasons. Watered with one river, several large creeks, innu- 
merable minor streams flowing above ground. No water droughts ; said to 
be the best watered county in the State. Wells and springs furnish the 
purest of drinking water, all freestone 

Lands cleaved, with improvements, $4 to $10 per acre ; cleared, with- 
out improvements, $2 to $(3 per acre ; wild, 75 cents to $3 per acre. Grov- 
ernment, State, school and railroad lands unoccupied. Lumber $10 per 
thousand feet, at the several mills. Some lands with improvements that 
will not be sold. 

Averages of quantity, upon basis of white labor, produced to the acre, 
with much greater possibilities : corn, 8 bushels ; cotton, IGO pounds lint ; 
oats, 15 bushels ; rice, 25 bushels ; pmdars, 30 bushels ; sweet potatoes, 
140 bushels ; sug«,r-cane, 10 barrels of syrup. Tendency to a diversity'- of 
crops, but farmers stick to c»tton because of the certainty of a market. 
Improved cultivation works wonders and is lacking : sixty bushels of corn, 
1^ bales of cotton, 60 bushels of oats, 60 bushels of rice, 60 bushels of 
pindars, 400 bushels of sweet potatoes, 30 barrels of syrup, 2,000 gallons of 
Scuppernoug wine, have been raised to the acre with proper fertilization 
and cultivation. 

Labor, ordinary, from $3 to $10 per month, found; mechanics, $1 to 
$2.50 per day. Health, claimed in this respect to be better than in any other 
portion of the State. Highest point of altitude 350 feet. No epidemics. Inter- 
mittent fevers, but little or no malaria. High and dry. " Chills and fever " 
only prevalent, as a result of individual imprudence ; lung troubles unknown. 
Insects, the flea and mosquito .sometimes, not often annoying, never gener- 
ally so. Snakes, all danger removed by the slightest of care. Storms, oc- 
casional ; lightning as little violent as anywhere in North America. Sum- 
mer, thermometer seldom over 88 degrees, exceptionally, for a short time, 
up to 96 degrees, and the heat tempered by grateful breezes from the Gulf 
of Mexico. Seasons, generall}' very regular. Winter mild, snow very 
seldom and quite light, not even thin overcoats generally u.-ied. Board, 
from $3 to $7 per week. One newspaper, the Quiucy Herald, published at 
Quincy, 

Of the fruits, apples few, will grow well for a few years ; peaches very 
fair ; oranges, a few trees that bear finely, but no groves ; figs abundant ; 
pomegranates, quinces, plums, plentiful. Several splendid vineyards of 
the Scuppernoug grape, a certain and remunerative crop; other varieties 
luxuriant. Attention given to the planting of LeConte pears, with fine 
promise ; pecans very prolific. Land of the poppy. Birds of ever}' hue 
and feather. Fish abundant. Turkeys, partridges, ducks and other game 
birds plentiful. 

Quincy incorporated in 1828, has an altitude of 290 feet, and is the 
county site. Its ecenery is said to resemble that of Nortli Georgia. It 
had a population by the census of 1880 of 639. Excellent churches, Pres- 
byterian and Methodist. A })ublic school of ten months expected aaother 
year, and free in all the highest and lowest branches. Noted for 
its eligibility as a High School locality ; 22 miles from Tallahassee ; 
24 mile* from Bainbridge, Ga. ; 20 miles from Chattahoochee, on the Ap- 
alaehicolft river. 

Near Chattahoochee, not incorporated, is the State Lunatic Asylum, 
and near there is to be found the Torreya, Taxifolia, the most indestructi- 



120 Florida^ — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



ble wood known, and which never decays, the best specimen of the only- 
three places in the world that it is to be seen. 

Concord, 16 miles from Quiney, incorporated, witli a population of 180 
in 1880 ; is in the midst of a fine region of country called " Egypt," be- 
cause of its constant supply of corn. 

There is no place in the Union, according to population, better sup- 
plied with schools and churches than Gadsden county, the latter of which 
include the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist denominations, of which 
over one-half of the whites are members. Private schools all tlie year 
round generally, and last year there were forty-seven public schools in the 
county, running principally^ three months, a few four, a few five, and one at 
Quiney nine months. People neighborly, hospitable and intelligent. No 
happier or more beautiful homes to be found. One of the oldest counties 
in the State. 

For further information write to C. E. L. Allison, Quiney, Fly., enclos- 
ing stamp for reply. 

HAMILTON COUNTY. 

Area, 540 square miles; 345,600 acres. Population in 1840, 1,464 ; in 
1850, 2,511; in 1860, 4,154; in 1870, 5,749; in 1880, 6,790. Public 
schools, 39 ; school land unsold, 7,511 acres; school age, 1,980; wliites, 
1,801 ; colored, 679; attendance, 117. Improved laud, 36,379 acres. Horses 
and mules, 1,188; cattle, 8,309-; sheep, 2,149; hogs, 8.049. Assessed 
value of property, $690,395. 

We are glad to be able to append the following well written article 
from the pen of Mr. Henry J. Stewart, of Jasper : 

This county lies between thirty and thirty-one degrees, and is the most 
eastern of the tier of counties known as Middle Florida. It is oblong in 
shape, is about forty-five miles from northwest to southeast, by fourteen 
miles wide from north to south, through the middle. 

TopoGRAPHY.-^-As a general thing the face of the county is level ; in 
some portions, however, near the rivers, particularly in the neighborhood 
of the Withlacoochee river, the land is rolling or hilly, with a growth of 
mixed timber, oak, hickory, &c. Away from the rivers, in the pine and 
palmetto region, the land is flat, with ponds here and there, pine forests, 
and occasionally a fine body of hammock ; in short, every variety of land 
from the poorest sand hills to the richest river swamp and hammock is here 
represented. 

Timber. — Our hammocks and river swamps abound with the finest and 
every variety of timber usually found in Florida, viz : White-oak red-oak, 
water and turkey-oak, live-oak, red and white bay, hickory and beech, ash, 
gum, &c., too numerous to mention. On the pine lands are to be found as 
fine pine timber as the State can produce, and among the ponds the cypress 
is exceedingly abundant. 

Soil. — In the river swamps and hammocks near the rivers the soil is 
of a rich, dark color, and in some localities is a very heavy clay sub-soil ; in 
hammocks away from the rivers, say about five or six miles off, the color is 
much lighter, and appears to contain more sand. A stranger would natu- 
rally suppose it to be poor and non-producing; it is, however, quite a mis- 
take. Our lands contain lime or marl, causing a continued and wonderful 
yield. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productiojis. 121 

Products. — The principal crops gro\Nai in the county are long and short 
cotton, corn, sngar-cane, potatoes, peas, oats, &c. ; rice, too, grows finely, 
both on the low and high lands. The soil is peculiarly adapted to tlie long 
staple cotton, and when properly cultivated a very large yield is the result. 
Our lands hardly ever wear out, the lime or marl contained in the soil 
keeps it alive. There are plantations in this county which have been 
cleared upwards of fortj^ years, and cultivated continuously, that will yet, 
with little or no fertilizer, produce admirably. The best fertilizer that I 
have ever noticed that can be applied to any crop, is the cotton seed, and 
one application will last two or three years. Land in its natural state, 
(that is without manure,) that will produce only ten bushels of corn to the 
acre, will yield, with an application of cotton seed, fifteen or eighteen 
bushels. 

Fruits. — There are some fruits that thrive and do well here ; for in- 
stance, the plum, the peach, the fig and grape. The " LeConte " and " Sand 
pears " have been recently introduced into our county. The young trees 
grow ofi" rapidly, and doubtless will prove a success ; none are yet old 
enough to bear. It was thought some years ago that the apple would not 
come to perfection in this county, owing to some defect in soil or climate 
not suited, but for the last few years Mr. J. B. Smith has raised some trees 
by grafting that are now gi'own, and have for two or three years yielded 
heavily of large, fine, luscious apples, equal to any grown in a Northern 
climate. So we now have the evidence that they will grow abundantly and 
do well here. So with the orange and lemon ; our people paid but little 
attention to them until recently; now as fine oranges are produced in this 
county as can be found in any county on the St. Johns river in South 
Florida. 

Vegetables. — Every variety can be successfull}^ grown here, and there 
is no season of the year but fresh vegetables, just from the garden, can be 
had with but little labor or expense ; such as cabbages, coUards, turnips, 
lettuce, squashes, beans, tomatoes, garden or English peas, &c. 

Transportation. — The facilities for transportation are ample, as the 
S. F. & W. Railwa}^ runs through the centre of the county from north to 
south, and is easy of access from every part of the county. There are two 
stations (besides one half station) between the Georgia line, where the road 
enters the count}', and the Suwannee river, (the lower edge,) a distance of 
only fourteen miles, thus affording all in the county a fair opportunity of 
shipping produce and receiving supplies. Besides these, those residing in 
the northwestern corner of the county have access to a shipping point at 
Valdosta, Ga., about fifteen miles, and those in the southwestern corner 
are very near Ellaville, a station on the F. C. & W. Railroad, and those in 
the southeast are within seven miles of Welborn, a station on the same 
road. 

Society, Educational Facilities, &c. — No portion of the State can 
present fairer evidences of the refining influences of social intercourse, mor- 
ality and education. Schools are taught in various portions of the county 
during the period allowed by school law. There are within the county 
about two thousand children within the school age, and in order to afford 
all an opportunity, the county is divided into school disti'icts of convenient 
size as nearly as possible, containing from thirty to fifty-five pupils, and 



122 Florida — Its GUmate, Soil and Productions. 

during the scholastic year from twenty-five to thirty schools are usually 
taught, thus affording school facilities in every " nook and corner." 

Churches A church of some one of the denominations can be found 

in nearly every neighborhood. The Methodist, Missionary and- Primitive 
Baptists are the three principal denominations in the county. 

Natural Curiosities. — We have many natural curiosities in the 
county, such as rivers, creeks, sinks, springs, &c. The Alapaha river is 
one of nature's great curiosities. The river rises somewhere up in Greorgia, 
(Irwin county, perhaps,) a small, ditch-like stream running east, then 
southeast, then south, widening and deepening as it goes, so that by the 
time it reaches Hamilton it is a wide, deep river. The great curiosity 
about it is that about ten or twrelve miles above its mouth, where it emp- 
ties into the Suwannee, (and where the river is on the fall,) the water dis- 
appears suddenly, leaving the bed of the river perfectly dry — hence the 
name "Alapaha," the Indian meaning for "dry river." It is thought by 
some that the water passes under the ground or main bed, through sink 
holes, while others contend that the bed of the river, which is composed of 
course white sand, is so porous that the water passes down through it like 
a sieve. Another curiosity is the famous sink of the " Little Alapaha," a 
creek that rises in EchoUs county, Ga.,and meanders along in the direction 
of the Suwannee river, and at a certain place over which the road passes it 
sinks deep under ground, and we see no more of it. Within a half mile or 
three quarters of the Alapaha are many curious sinks, from forty to one 
hundred feet deep, circular shaped, and from forty to one hundred yards in 
diameter at the top. Some are nearly full of water, others with water at 
the bottom, and others dr^^ The wr.ter in many of them rises and falls with 
the rivers. These sinks are cau'^ed (as supposed and doubtless true) by 
the falling in of the earth over an underground stream, and some have 
the api>earance of having been made fifty or a hundred years ago, while 
others are of more recent occurrence. The land around these sinks is 
superb. 

Water Powers. — The creeks, lakes and springs all afford water suffi- 
cient to drive machinery of various kinds. In the first district alone are 
twenty mill sites, ten of which are now utilized and have erected upon them 
machinery for sawing, ginning and grinding. In the second district are 
several water courses upon which mills are alread}" erected, and others 
sufficient to drive powerful machinery ; and thus they are found in various 
portions of the count}', some gushing from lakes and uonds, others on 
creeks, ^and some springs in the county afford a rush of water sufficient to 
drive the machinery of huge factories. 

Springs. — Quite a number of springs are found in the county ; many 
contain medicinal propertie^, while others afford water cool and pleasant in 
summer, almost equal to those found gushing from rocks in Virginia. The 
famous White Sulphur is in this county, of which a great deal has been 
said and written, but as the old saying is, " the proof of the pudding is the 
chewing of the bag," one must go and see, and bathe in tliis life-giving 
lx>ol in order to realize and k;now for himself all about the health-restor- 
ing, delightful and iuyigorai.ing properties of this ma-gnificent spring. 
There are others, the waters of which might be fully equal to this, but be- 
ing inconveniently situated, hi ve not been resorted to, aud therefore their 
qualities have not been thoroughly tested and brought into notice. 



Florida. — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 123 



p- 



Temperature, &c. — .Our climate is a deliglitfiil one, being equi-distant 
from the Grulf on the southwest and the Athantic on the east, the warm 
summer days are relieved by coal sea breezes. Thermometer ranges from 
90 to 97 degrees, Fahrenheit. N'ights generally cool and pleasant, and 
quite mild in winter, with exceptional cold snaps. It has been said by per- 
sons of vast traveling experience to be the finest climate they ever enjoyed 
anywhere. 

Health, — The health of our county is eminently good, comparable in 
mortuary statistics with the most favorable regions ot our country. There 
is a chili and fever belt, (of a mild type, however,) near our rivers, which 
trouble some families, but never prove serious. In winter, as in all other 
places, bad colds prevail, and occasionally a case of pneumonia occurs. 

Prices of Land, &c. — There are still in this county Government lands 
subject to entry at $1.25 per acre, or the settler may homestead 160 acres 
at a trifling cost. Lands owned by individuals in an unimproved condition 
can be purchased from $1.50 to $5 per acre, according to quality ; improved 
lands, according to extent and value of improvements. 

TAXABLE PROPERTY. 

Number of acres returned 1 77,449 

Improved lands 37,379 

Valuation $378,720 

Number of horses 1, 188 

Number of cattle 8.309 

Number of she«p, &c 3. 149 

Number of swine 8,041 

Valuation of personal pi'operty $145,547 

Valuation of personal property, except animals 137,489 

Upon the whole, we have a most excellent farming county ; will pro- 
duce more than the force cultivating it can harvest, and a healthier region 
cannot be found in the South. There are plenty of lands which can be 
bought cheap, and in quantities to suit, of both cleared and uncleared. 
There is very little opening for professional men, but for the mechanic and 
agriculturist there is abundant room. Farm labor is in great demand, and 
good wages can always be had by active working men. 

Jasper is the county site and principal town, and can boast of being 
" as live a town " Okl'its size as can be found in the State. Population two 
years ago, 100; population now, 325, with 12 stores, one saw-mill, two 
steam ginning establishments, and a large gin factory, turning out the 
famous Home Long Cotton G-in. Two blacksmith and wheelwright shops, 
1 furniture shop, and 1 drug store, while the Hately House, Rice House, 
Jackson House and Stewart House, cannot le excelled in the State for 
comfort and "cuisine," and at the lowest possible rates. The Hamilton 
Times is the official organ of the county, and is generally acknowledged to 
to be one of the best county papers in the State. 

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. 

Area, 1,300 square miles, or 833,000 acres. Population in 1840, 452 ; 
in 1850, 2,377; in 1860, 2,981; in 1870, 3,216; in 1880, 5,814. Public 
schools, 51 ; school lands unsold, 16,116 acresi; of school age, 2,158 ; whites, 
1,853 ; colored, 305 ; attendance, 1,359 ; acres of improved land, 6,466. 



124 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

Horses and mules, 1,000 ; cattle, 21,223; sheep, 1,870; hogs, 5,432. As- 
sessed value of propert}', $953,088. 

The following paper was prepared for this pamphlet by Mr. W. C. 
Brown, of Tampa. The above statistics will be found to differ somewhat 
from those appended by Mr. Brown to his article. The Commissioner has 
availed himself of the very latest census bulletins fr®m Washington, the 
returns in the Comptroller's office for 1881, and report made for us by the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction : 

Hillsborough county contains about 1,300 square miles, excluding 
Clear Water Harbor and Boca Ciega Pass, which lie between the "• keys " 
or islands in the Gulf and the mainland, and including Tampa, Old Tampa, 
and Hillsborough bays, which cover an area of about 130 square miles, 
leaving in the mainland part 1,420 square miles. This county is the 
third Gulf coast county from the extreme southern point of the peninsula 
of Florida, lying between Hernando county on the north and Manatee 
county on the south, its eastern boundary being Polk county and western 
the Gulf of Mexico; longitude, 83 degrees west; latitude, 2T.10 to 28.10 
north. This county has about 150 miles of sea and bay coast, exclusive of the 
islands on the Gulf, of which there are about 25 miles in length, and prob- 
ably about one-fourth of the 150 miles is low and marshy, the re- 
mainder being sand beach or bluff. The land in this county is apparently 
a plane, as there are scarcely any very abrupt differences of level, excepting 
in the immediate beds of the rivers, but there is in fact a gradual rise from 
about the centre on the bay, to the north, the east and the southeast 
parts of the county, with the exception that about ten miles square in the 
northwest corner of the county declines to the mouth of the Anclote river, 
which is at the northwest corner of the county. Therefore, about three- 
fourths of the northern boundary line, all of the east line, and half of the 
south line of the county is from seventy-five t'o one hundred feet more ele- 
vated than the bay shore in the centre. 

As in all the southern counties, the lands in Hillsborough are of va- 
ried character, and as large bodies of first-class lands as lie in Hernando or 
Polk counties are not to be found in this county, although there are tracts 
that will compare favorably with the best in either of the above-named lo- 
calities. There is not much hammock, considerable good pine land, more 
of third-class pine, and in places extensive tracts of cypress, with large and 
valuable timber, and also some open prairie land. Throughout the eastern 
part of the county there is a large portion of land very well adapted to the 
cultivation of the staple crops : Cotton, corn, cane, potatoes, rice, &c., as well 
as fruits, but as we descend toward the bay in the centre, and in the west- 
ern part of the county, the l"*nds do not average as well for general crops, 
though there are some choic i tracts, but on account of the modification of 
the climate, probably caused by proximity to the Gulf and baj^, tender 
tropical fruits and vegetables succeed better than they do further inland, 
and it is yet a disputed question as to which part of the county possesses the 
greatest advantages for the cultivaaion of that very important product of 
this section, the sweet orange. 

This county contains four rivers, about thirty miles of which are navi- 
gable for boats drawing four or five feet of water. Of these the Anclote 
rises in Hernando county, and entering this county in the northwestern 
part of it, empties into the Gulf at the northwestern corner of the county. 



\ 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 125 

The HillsboroiTgh river, from which the county takes its name, rises'about 
the northeast corner of the county, and running in a generally south- 
westerly direction has its mouth at the head of Hillsborough bay, very 
nearly in the centre of the county. The Flillsborough, Withlacoochee and 
Palatlakaha have their sources in a common basin, the Palatlakaha run- 
ning north into the lakes which form the headwaters of the Ocklawaha, and 
the Hillsborough southwest and the Withlacoochee northwest into the Gulf, 
thus forming in the " rainy season " a continuous water communication 
from the Atlantic to tiie Gulf, and which has been pronounced to be 
the best route for a ship canal through this peninsula by the United 
States engineers who surveyed it. The third river mentioned is the Alafia, 
which is formed by the " North Prong" rising toward the northeast cor- 
ner and the "South Prong" rising about the southeast corner of the 
county, and joining about ten miles from the centre of the east line of the 
county, and runs thence about due west to the bay. The fourth and last 
is the Little Manatee river, which heads about the southeast corner and 
runs about due west, near the south line of the count}^ to the bay. Besides 
the above-mentioned rivers there are several smaller ones, hardly worth\^ of 
description In the northwestern part of the county there are numbers of 
small lakes or open ponds, covering an area of from one- half of an acre in 
some instances to two or three square miles in others, with generally more 
or less of average good land on the margins. These features are to be 
found also to some extent iu other parts ot the county, notably the Thono- 
tasassa (Flint lake) and the lakes at Limona, and such situations are 
sought by many as affording the most desirable sites for residences. 

This county is remarkable for its magnificent bay and harbor. A bay 
twelve miles wide inside of tlie keys at its mouth, ten miles wide at Point 
Pinalis, about ten miles up from the " bar," and widening again to twelve 
miles, extends ten or twelve miles further to Gadsden Point, by which it is 
divided into '' Old Tampa bay" running to the northwest, and Hillsborough 
bay tending to the northeast, Old Tampa bay being about f »urteen miles 
long by twelve miles wide, and Hillsborough bay about nine miles by five 
miles, the three divisions of the bay covering about one hundred and 
thirty square miles. This bay has two main entrances from the Gulf, called 
respectively the Northwest Passage and the Southwest Passage, having at 
mean low tide twenty-two feet of water on the bar in the Northwest Pas- 
sage and nineteen feet in the Southwest Passage, which deepens to sixty 
feet inside an<l affords twenty-seven feet twenty-five miles up the bay, and 
twelve feet almost to the northern termini of l»oth Old Tampa and Hillsbo- 
rough bays, a distance of thirty to thirty-five miles from the Gulf, and the 
bay being well sheltered by a chain of keys extending across the mouth 
aftbrds a secure liarbor to any vessel entering it. In fact, the United 
States officers who have made the coast surveys here and along the Gulf 
coast, have pronounced this to be "the best harbor between Pensacola 
and Key West," and quite a number of officers in the United States Navy 
have invested in lands on Gadsden Point, the Peninsula lying between Old 
Tampa and Hillsborough bays, and are having orange groves made there, 
arid several United States Army oflicers have purchased and are improving 
lands in the vicinity of Tampa. Besides Tampa, or Espiritu Santo ba}^ as it 
was styled by the Spanish discoverers, there are smaller harbors between 
the islands lying along the western coast of this county and the mainland, 
affording security to a class of vessels of five to eight feet draught, notable 



126 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

among which ai'e Clear Water harbor and Boca Ciega pass. These harbors 
and passes form almost a continuous inland passage along the coast from 
the northwest corner of the county in Tampa bay, and afford a safe route 
to very small boats. This feature, however, is common to a great extent of 
the Cinlf coast of Florida. These bays, inlets and harbors, and the Gulf 
adjacent, are teeming with a variety of fish, oysters, clams, turtles, eels, &c. 
Very many of the lakes and rivers throughout the county afford fine sport 
to the disciples of Walton, and there is abundant game yet to be found in 
some parts of Hillsborough. 

As to the distribution of the present population of this county, on the 
line of the exireme western coast the settlements are comparatively thick 
for a distance of about twenty -five miles, including Bay St. Joseph, Dune- 
din, Clear Water harbor and Johns pass. As we recede from the coast the 
settlements become more spai'se, and on the eastern side of the peninsula, 
that lies between the Gulf and Tampa and Old Tampa bays, there are few 
settlers, excepting a small number about Bayview and Point Pinalis, there 
being hardly an average of one settler to five hundred acres in four or five 
townships on Point Pinalis. Between the settlements on the coast at Bay 
St. Joe and Dunedin and the banks of the Tlocksa Apopka or Hillsborough 
river, lies a scope of country composing over 20,000 acres of land, with 
probably not over 150 to 200 inhabitants, which has been heretofore men- 
tioned as a lake region. Immediately on the west shore of Hillsborough 
ba3', extending about ten miles south from Tampa, and on the Hillsborough 
river seven or eight miles north and northeast from Tampa, the land is al- 
most all in private hands, and this region is fast becoming almost a contin- 
uous orange grove, although the land is not as good as the lands in the 
eastern part of the county. Around the Thonotasassa, some twelve miles 
northeast from Tampa, the lands are better and the settlements are numer- 
ous. This obtains also in regard to the Cork and Shiloh sections in the 
northeastern part of the county, though between these localities — the Hills- 
borough river and the northern boundary of the county — there is a large 
territory almost uninhabited. About Alatia, Keysville, Bloomingdale, 
and Limona in the ceiitral east, the South Prong in the extreme southeast, 
and at Peru on the Lower Alafia, there are centres of population and 
thriving settlements, but the Little Manatee countr^^, lying south of the 
Alafia river, and including an area of some seven or eight townships, con- 
tains scarcely twice that number of families. In the more thickly settled 
parts of the country there are stores, mills, post-otfices and churches, and 
the school facilities are average, there having been over fifty schools 
taught in the county during the school year of LS80-8L 

Tampa, the county seat of this county, being the onl^' incorporated 
and the largest town in the count}-, is perhaps worthy of more extended 
description. The town is situated at the mouth of the Hillsborongh river, 
and head of the Hillsborough b.iy, about thirty-five miles from the Gulf at 
the entrance to the bay. Tampa is a thriving little place, having a popu- 
lation of from 700 to 900 within the incor{K)rated limits, (160 acres,) but 
about 1,500 within a radius of three miles. There is a good roomy court- 
house here, containing, besides the necessary lower rooms, offices for. 
county officers, and a room used as a town hall. There are two respectable 
public school-houses here, and the (white) Methodists, Baptists and Roman 
Catholics have each a church edifice. There are three weekly newspapers 
printed in Tampa. There are some twenty stores and shops, some of them 



Florida — Its ClimcUe, Soil and Productions. 12T 

doing a very good business, as this place is headquarters for a large scope 
of country, its business extending a distance of sixty miles into the coun- 
try, it being the shipping port for parts of Hernando, Sumter and Polk 
counties, as well as most of Hillsborough county, there being here a con- 
siderable trade in cotton, sugar and oranges, also in beef cattle for the 
Cuba market. The orange trade here is assuming large proportions, for 
while a few years ago there were no oranges shipped from this place, now, 
for the week ending December I4th, 1881, the shipments amounted to 
397,000, and for the season of 1881 up to same date they footed up 1,430,303, 
this being probably between one-tliird and one-half of the total shipment 
for the season from this port, and besides these shipments from Tampa 
there are large shipments of oranges made from the western coast of the 
county. The beef cattle shipped from this port during the season of 1880 
amounted to between twelve and thirteen thousand head, of the average 
value of S14 per head. Tampa contains several saw-mills engaged in saw- 
ing pine and cj^press lumber, red cedar pencil-wood, orange box stuff 
and ginning Sea-Island cotton, which is the kind of cotton principally 
raised in this coun^3^ There are several law^^ers at T;impa, and also two 
or three physicians, also several of the latter class elsewhere in the county, 
but the last mentioned class invariably have to combine some other busi- 
ness with their profession in order to make a living. 

Fort Brooke is a military reservation of about one hundred acres in 
extent, adjoining Tampa on the south, and is naturally a beautiful place, 
but is not kept in very good order. The buildings have almost rotted 
down and the soldiers stationed here mostly live in tents. 

Hillsborough county has at present no railroad facilities, but her pros- 
pects apparently are good for plenty of roads, as the proposed lines of no 
less thanfive pass through the county or centre at Tampa, and it is expected 
that several of them will be completed into or through the county in the 
3'ear 1882. There are, however, principally owned at Tampa, and plying 
between that and other Gulf ports and Havana, some fine, first-class Gulf 
steamships, which, with other small steam and sail vessels, afford very fair 
facilities for freight and passengers to and from this county. There is a 
daily United States mail line from the railroad at Ocala to Tampa, and 
the principal points in the county are supplied with mails from Tampa 
semi-weekly. 

There are at Tampa several small hotels and boarding-houses, which 
are well kept and probably afford as good accommodations as those of any 
of the other small towns throughout the State. There is also a hotel re- 
cently opened at Dunedin, on the Gulf coast. 

The table at the foot of this article shows that by estimation there are 
800,000 acres of land in this county, after making a liberal deduction for 
the area covered by the bays, lakes and rivers, and as the number of acres 
taxed for the year 1881 is only seventy-four thousand six hundred and 
ninety-four, there is yet an amount of probably 700,000 acres of '^ [)ublic 
land " in the county, including, however.,' in this amount the recent 
purchase of the " Disston Company," the ^mount of which cannot at 
present be definitely stated. A large proportion of these public lands are 
withdrawn from the market for railroad purnoses or included in the afore- 
said Disston purchase, so that at present thdre is not much laud lield for 
sale by either the United States or State povernments, but there is yet 
some United States land that can be purchased, and some that can be se- 



.^ 



128 Florida — Its Glimate^ Soil and Productions. 

cured by " pre-emption " or " homestead " entry, and the State has still 
some school lands and perhaps a little internal improvement land for sale. 
The Disston company are putting their lands on the market as fast as they 
can be graded, and it is to be hoped that the railroads will soon be com- 
pleted, so that the railroad lands can be purchased. Lands throughout 
this county, that are owned by private individuals, can be purchased at rea- 
sonable prices, though the places that have orange trees, producing iive or 
six thousand oranges to each tree every year, command good prices. 

It would be unjust to the county to omit in this description some men- 
tion of the climatic and hygienic qualities of this region. Hillsborough for 
healthfulness is unsurpassed by any section, and in temperature only the 
counties south of this exhibit less difference in their maximum and mini- 
mum ranges, the extremes here being: maximum, 94 degrees; minimum, 
26 deo-rees, Fahrenheit, though this minimum has been reached but once in 
over twenty-five years, and the average minimum for twentj^ years does not 
fall below 36 degrees, while the average yearly temperature is about 72 de- 
grees. Another peculiarity about this section is that it appears to be en- 
tirely exempt from disastrous cyclones, which visit sections both on the 
north and on the south. Within the memor3r of man there has been noth- 
ino- of that nature in this county, and neither is there any evidence of such 
a visitation to be found in the timber within the county limits. Here, as 
in all South Florida, the rain-fall is mostly in the summer season, the 
" rainy season " generally commencing between the first and middle of 
June and extending to the middle or last of August, rarely through Sep- 
tember. The rains during this period occurring nearly every day, often in 
the sliape of " thunder squalls," and lasting from one half to four or five 
hours, mostly in the day time, (rarely at night,) part of the day, either be- 
fore or after thN. •• sqa-j,!!," aluiost invariably being bright and clear. In 
fact wholly cloudy days do not occur here on the average once per year. 
As a o-eneral thing, during the other part of the year, i. e., from September 
to June, there are occasional rains — seldom much in the winter months 
and very rarely anything approaching a drought. It is usual to raise 
here throughout the 3^ear, field crops of cotton, corn, &c., in the spring and 
summer vegetables in the fall, winter and spring, and various kinds of 
fruits at all seasons. The equableness of the climate and almost entire ex- 
emption of this region from fogs and severe winds, tend undoubtedly to 
render this part of the State at least one of the most health}^ locations 
in the world, and there are many types of disease, common to almost all 
other seotions, that are almost if not entirely unknown here. Cholera, 
small-pox, diptheria and scarlet fever are among the unknown diseases. 
Pneumonia and typhoid fever ai'e so rare that their occurrence is a dis- 
puted question among the physicians, and it is doubtful that a case of con- 
sumption ever originated in this county, while on the contrary there are 
many living evidences of the cure of that disease having been effected by 
this climate. In fact, the oniy forms of disease that can be termed in any 
sense of the word pi-evalent here, are the milder grades of malarial dis- 
ease, intermittent fevers, commonly styled "chills," rarely occurring away 
from the river or pond margins, and more rarely fatal ; and the western 
coast and peninsula section is almost utterly exempt from even these 
milder forms of malaria. 

Statistics of HiLLsnoRouGii County compiled from the census re- 



Florida — Its Gliviate, Soil and Frodticlions. 129 



turns, assessment rolls or other strictly authentic records : Population 
1870, 3,216; 1880, 5,888; white, 5,011 ; black, 877. Acres of land tilled, 
11,4:4:7 ; farm values, $l,04B,2r)5 ; farm implements and machinery, $119,- 
555. Number of horses, 714; mules, 22G ; working oxen, 454; milch 
cows, 6,318 ; other cattle, 10,430 ; cattle taxed 1881, i:l,223 ; swine, 9,595; 
sheep, 1,870 ; value of animals, $188,626. Butter, pounds, 11,430 ; poultry, 
17,547; eggs, dozens, 25,400; rice, pounds, 11,000; Indian corn, bushels, 
55,690 ; oats, bushels, 205 ; sngai-, hogsheads, 105 ; molasses or syrup, gal- 
lon8, 9,321; honey, pounds, 12,370; cotton, (Sea-Island) bales, 365; pota- 
toes, bushels, 68,267. Value of saw-mills, $15,000 ; lumber, feet, 1,511,200. 
Acres of land taxed for 1881, 74,694; acres of land in the county, exclusive 
of bays, lakes and rivers, estimated, 800,000. Rates of taxation for 1881, 
for State, 8 mills ; county, 2 mills ; county schools, 2i mills. Indictments 
in State courts in 1881, one (1) ; complaints before United States Commis- 
sioners in 18S1, none. 

HERI^Ai^DO COUNTY. 

Area, 1,700 square miles, or 1,088,000 acres. Population in 1850, 926 ; 
in 1860, 1,200; in 1870,2,938; in 1880, 4,248. Nutfiber of public schools, 
32 ; school lands unsold, 26,232 acres; of school age, 1,330; white, 1,035; 
colored, 295 ; school attendance, 800. Acres of improved land, 2,625. 
Horses and mules, 1,107 ; cattle, 14,882 ; sheep, 2,907 ; hogs, 6,519. As- 
sessed value of property in 1881, $557,950. 

In an article brief as this' must necessarily be, the reader must not ex- 
pect to find a minute description of a county as varied in its topography, 
soil and productions as is Hernando. The best that (mn be done is to give 
the prospective settler in Florida some idea of what he mav expect and 
leave the rest to personal inspection or such other means as ^a may see fit 
to adopt to acquire the desired information. 

Lying for sixty miles along the Gulf of Mexico, and almost completely 
surrounded on the "other three sides by rivers, it is almost an island. Nu- 
merous clear lakes teeming with fish, bold, beautiful rivers that spring from 
the bosom of the earth in thoir full vigor and strength, limpid springs that 
make one feel as if suspended in space while floating on their transparent 
waters, high hills covered witk oak, hickory, red bay, magnolia, cedar, pal- 
metto, ash and cherry trees, masses of grape and semi-tropical vines, or 
high rolling sand land covered with pines, stretches of flat saw palmetto 
lands or grass-covered prairies, sometimes but a few acres in extent, and 
again reaching ofi" into the distance until the eye is weary of trying to 
measure its size. All these can be seen in Hernando, and each has its spe- 
cial use or charm, and the immigrant can make his selection from the rich- 
est hammock to the poorest scrub in all the land ; but even the scrub has 
something to commend it, for it furnishes a safe harbor for quantities of 
game, such as deer, turkeys and bear that mio-ht otherwise be destroyed. 

Underlying many poi'tions of the county are large beds of limestone, 
marl or sandstone, the second unrivalled as a fertilizer and the third a most 
valuable building material. 

The lands in Hernando county are abou^ equally divided between pine 
hammock and swamp. The pine land is generally sandy, but not the sandy 
soil of other States. Instead of being the shurp siliceous sandof the ocean, 
and of the more northern States, is fine and i compact, with a large percent- 
age of lime and organic remains, making it astonishingly productive. These 
9 



/ 



130 Florida — Its Glitnate^ Soil and Productions. 

lands may properly be divided into tl'iree classes or grades. The first-class 
pine lands are covered with a heavy growth of large yellow or pitch pine. 
The surface is generally for several inches a dark rich vegetable mold ; 
underneath lies a red chocolate-colored sandy loam, and commonly called a 
mulatto sub-soil, that extends down several feet atid rests upon a sub- 
stratum of limestone, clay or marl. These lands are both fertile and dura- 
ble ; some of them have been in constant cultivation for twenty-five years 
and show no sions of tailiuor. 

The second-class of pine lands, also well timbered with pine, are gen- 
erally high and rolling and interspersed with numerous clear lakes. The 
soil is thin, with a sub-soil of yellow sand. These lands will produce very 
fair crops for several years, and when well fertilized and cultivated will 
yield heavy crops of sugar or cotton. Corn, oats, rye, rice, peas, potatoes, 
tobacco, vegetables of all descriptions, together with the numerous varieties 
of fruit peculiar to the climate, are successfully and profitably grown. 

The third-class lands, which are by no means worthless,, may be sub-di- 
vided into two classes. The first covered with a sparse and stunted growth 
of black-jack oak and scrubb}^ pines, with a white sandy soil. The other is 
low and swampy, with a few sapling pines or cypress trees, or heav^^ growth 
of bay gall and saw palmetto, with occasional open stretches subject to 
overflow, but covered wnth a luxuriant growth of grass, affording fine pas- 
turage for large numbers of cattle, sheep and horses. The high lands of 
this class have proven very productive of sisal hemp, agave, manilla and 
other textile plants. 

The hammocks *are almost invariably high and rolling — thoroughly 
drained by the natural water-shed. The soil is a rich fine vegetable mold 
mixed with fine sand, or sand and clay intermixed, and resting on a sub- 
stratum of clay, marl or limestone. Such a soil is almost tireless, and will 
produce for years without either change of crop or the aid of fertilization. 
These lands have been known to produce three hogsheads of sugar to the 
acre, sixty bushels of corn, and other crops in proportion. They require 
no preparation for cultivation save clearing, but clearing hammock is very 
expensive. The General Government has no iiammock lands and the State 
very little. It is almost all in the hands of private parties, who bought it 
years ago, paying from $5 to $10 per acre for it. 

The swamp and overflowed lands are of a later formation, and are in 
many instances nothing but immense beds of muck from one or two feet to 
twent^'^-five feet in deptii. Of course there is no limit to the productive- 
ness of such lands. They are heavily timbered, and to make them tillable 
they must be cleared ^nd drained — a by no means small undertaking in 
many instances. 

Besides these lands there are savannas or saw-grasses, similar in many 
respects to the swamps, but instead of being heavily timbered they are 
treeless and covered with a luKuriant growth of grass. Quite a number of 
the small savannas have been drained by a system of ditching, and have 
proven uneaqualled in the production of sugar and vegetables of almost 
every variety. The reclamation of these lands is, in most cases, neither 
difficult nor expensive. 

To estimate or pi-edict tho possibilities of a soil and climate like this 
would be next to an impossibility. Actual experinient has demonstrated 
the fact that besides the citrus family, the ordinary field crops, and an almost 
endless variety of garden vegetables there can be grown profitably over one 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 131 



hundred different varieties of fruits, trees, plants and shrubs, including many 
valuable medicinal gums and barks. 

The prospective settler desirous of knowing how he is to live will be 
interested in the following synopsis of field crops and fruits and their yield 
per acre. It must be borne in mind that the land on which these crops are 
grown is good pine or very light sandy hammock, also that by judicious 
fertilization and cultivation the crops can be increased almost beyond con- 
ception : 

The Sea-Island cotton, the most valuable grown, produces from 150 to 
200 pounds to the acre. Its cultivation is easily understo'od. 

Rice is as easy of cultivation as any cereal ; grows well on high lands 
and yields from 25 to 75 bushels to the acre. 

Corn varies from 10 to 50 bushels to the acre, depending largely upon 
the cultivation. 

Rye auvd oats are good crops. 

Peanuts, pindars, goobers, ground-peas, all different names for the same 
nut, grow well and are remunerative, 3'ielding from 50 to 100 bushels per 
acre. 

Hernando is one of the finest tobacco sections in the State. This val- 
uable w^ed frequently grows ail the year round, making a crop fully equal, 
in every particular, to the best imported Havana. It requires careful and 
skillful attention, and with proper cultivation will yield from 300 to TOO 
pounds per acre of the cured leaf. 

The sweet potato is one of the most valuable crops the new-comer can 
plant, simply because he can put it in a row or two at a time as the season 
and his engagements suit, almost the year around, thus securing a succes- 
sion of crops and insuring an abundance of wholesome food. 

Irish potatoes are a good and profitable crop. 

Arrow-root, cassava and coontie all grow well, and with proper culti- 
vation are profitable crops. Florida arrow-root is equal in quality and 
price to the best Bermuda. Cassava is rich in starch, being far superior to 
the Irish potato. Tiie coontie grows wild and is the famous Indian bread- 
root. 

Among the fibre plants sisal hemp, jute and manilla have been tested 
and proven successful. 

Indigo is indigenous to Florida, the pine forests being frequently cov- 
ered with it for miles. 

The castor bean grows from year to year and attains the size of a ti'ee. 
No attempt has as yet been made to utilize the beans, though the attempt 
would undoubtedly prove profitable. 

In fruits we have lemons, limes, citrons, oranges, peaches, ^lums, Ja- 
pan plums, a number of varieties of grapes, pine-apples, figs, guavas, pome- 
granates, dates, bananas, persimmons, both the wild and Japanese, LeConte 
pears and others. . ) 

Pecan and hickory nuts thrive ; the lafuter are abundant in the ham- 
mocks, f 

Both tea and coffee grow well, but theii/ success from a money point of 
view, is \et to be proven. \ 

Strawberries are unsurpassed in size, (jolor, flavor and perfuniC. 

Whortleberries, blackberries and devWjerries grow wild in the utmost 



profusion. 



/> 



\ 



132 Florida — Its Glwiate^ Soil and Productions. 

All the melon families are at home, producing well and of lara^e size 
and fine flavor. 

In the production of vegetables this county cannot be excelled either 
in variet}^, quantity or quality. Grrowing them for early marketing is at 
present coutined almost exclusively^ to the coast, owing to the lack of trans- 
portation, but as soon as one of the roads now being built penetrates the 
county, early vegetable-growiug will rapidly overtop all other pursuits. 

For fish, oysters, sponges and turtle the coast of Hernando is justly 
celebrated. Thousands of dollars are annually realized from her fisheries 
and the business is practically undeveloped yet. 

Until about two years ago Hernando was, owing to a want of transporta- 
tion, almost a <erra incogrniYa ; since that time various causes have tended 
to bring this fine county into favorable notice, andth? result has been quite 
a large accession to the poj;)ulatioa and wealth of the county, besides a 
large number of tourists who have fouud their stay only too short for 
a thorotigh exploration of the curious natural wells, bored as smoothly as 
by the hand of a skilled mechanic, from a few feet to 50 and 15 feet deep 
down into the earth ; her ancient mounds with their secrets all untold ; her 
caves, some with subterranean lakes ; others that in winter breathe out all the 
air of .'-iummer, and 3^et again others that bear evidence of having at some 
time ill the long gone past, served either as an habitation, store-house or 
place of sepulchre for man ; or the hunters' hill, where tradition says Her- 
nando de Soto encamped with his mail-clad Spaniards for several months. 
Whether the legend be true or not there are certainly evidences of its occu- 
pation for military purposes by some one long prior to the occupuncy of 
the country by the United States. Remains of the old stockade and well 
are still visible, an i som3 of the live-oak timbers are still in a very good 
state of preservation. The old council grounds and Indian fields are to be 
found in various parts of the county, all interesting to the antiquary or cu- 
riosity hunter. 

Brooksville, the county site, almost centrally located, is a small incor- 
porated village, containing the court-house, jail, two churches — a white and 
colored — 'ueu stores, office of the Florida Orescent newspaper, located here 
in 188(1 three small boarding-houses, a restaurant, market and liver^'^ stable. 
The Gown is regularly laid out, and it is s'tiiated on one of the highest 
paints in the ca inty, being some three hundred feet above the sea level, 
sixteeu miles away. To the north and northwest lies the Annutaliga ham- 
mock one of the largest and finest bodies of hammock laud in the State. 
South and east is the Choocochattee hammock, another magaificent bod}' 
of land, while all around the town at from three to five miles are smaller 
bodies of detached hammocks. A good saw-mill is located one mile south, 
and another about the same distance north of town. Both of these mills 
have ulaners attached, and one (Caile's) has a shingle machine also. 

Bay Port, at the mouth of the Wekiwachie river, is the shipping point 
for the section around Brooksville. 

The villao-e of Crystal River, situated on a stream of the same name, is 
a small but flourishing hamlet, The Hunter's spring, from which the river 
flows, is a beautiful sheet of 1 impid water, abounding, as does the river, 
with every varietj^ of fish kno\.ai to the Gulf coast. 

A short distance south is tlie Homosassa river, another beautiful stream, 
and its islands are a favorite resort for sportsmen and fishermen during the 
winter ; all varieties of game are abundant. 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productiovs. 133 



Running parallel with the Homosassa and but a few miles south is the 
Cheseehowiska, down whose crystal waters are annually rafted thousands 
of red cedar logs for the manufacture of pencils. 

About ten miles south the Wekiwachie boils up out of the ground and 
goes rushing down to the Gulf. All these streams are navigable from the 
mouth to the source. Still further south are the Pithluchescootie and An- 
clote, both navigable b}-^ vessels of ordinary tonnage. At the mouth of the 
latter river is the flourishing settlement of Anclote. Here, too, are located 
some of the finest fisheries in the county. 

Southeast of Brooksville, about eighteen miles, is Fort Dade, one of 
the most thrifty and flourishing settlements in the county. They have just 
established a newspaper, have several churches and a free school. The 
lands around this section are first-class pine and hammock, and there are 
numerous fine young orange groves to be seen, indubitable evidence that 
the orange will thrive. 

Tuckertown, the telegraph station, in the extreme southeastern portion 
of the county, is also a growing place. One of the handsomest groves in 
the county, that of J. W. Tucker, is located near this place. 

. Following the Withlaeoochee down, along the eastern border of the 
county, will be found numerous bodies of fine land, both pine and hammock, 
and several prosperous settlements, among them Magnolia Bluff, a very 
attractive section. Still further down is the lake region, with its beautiful 
groves, handsome farms, clear lakes, fine hammocks and pine lands, lovely 
islands and broad prairies, offering inducements to either the stock-raiser, 
the farmer or the orchardist. 

The settlements of Fort Dade, Tuckertown and Cove Bend each have 
saw-mills easy of access. 

No county in the State offers greater attraction or variety for a resi- 
dence or advantages for the successful prosecution of agriculture and horti- 
culture than Hernando. Transportation, enterprise, industry and immigra- 
tion, will soon make it one of the wealthiest, most prosperous and desirable 
portions of the State. 

While all that has been said of rich hammocks, productive pine lands 
and fertile prairies is strictly true, the secret of success lies here, as else- 
where — in work, and to him who comes endowed with health, intelligence, 
honesty, industry and perseverance, we have no hesitancy in {)romising the 
golden reward that shall lighten the cares and add largely to the peace and 
comfort of the evening and sunset of life. 

HOLMES COUNTY. 

Area, 540 square miles, or 345,600 acres. Population in 1850, 1,205; 
in 1860, 1,386; in 1870, 1,572; in 1880, 2,190. Number of public schools, 
11; amount of school land unsold, 10,211 acres; of school age, 766; 
white, 744 ; colored, 22; attendance, 221 ; a,cres of improved land, 1,960. 
Mules and horses, 196; cattle, 5,416 ; sheep and goats, 8,788 ; hogs, 3,695. 
Assessed value of property, $104,992. 

Holmes is one of the West Florida counties whose want of railroad 
facilities has heretofore operated against their development. The great 
want is at last supplied. By the end of the present year (1882) the Pensa- 
cola and Atlantic Railroad will have completed its construction and com- 
menced active operations. The opening ^f this great trunk line will be the 



y 



134 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

signal for an unprecedented progress and development in West Florida and 
Holmes will not be behind her sister counties in this respect. 

The Choctawhatchie river runs through the centre of the county, afford- 
ing steamboat communication with the Gulf, and admitting of the trans- 
portation of logs and timber to mills on the seaboard. 

The lands are for the most part sandy and of a high grade of pine 
lands, but there are areas of excellent hammock, whei-e agricultural opera- 
tions of considerable proportions are being profitably pursued. Fruit and 
vegetable-growing have received but limited attention heretofore for want 
of means of ])utting them on the market. What changes the newly-ac- 
quired railway will affect in this particular remains to be seen. 

Timber-cutting and the establishment of saw-mills will no doubt be 
the leading industry for a short period. Stock-raising has also proven 
profitable here, especially sheep, which are beginning to attract general at- 
tention and invite investments. Sugar-cane, corn, potatoes and other pro- 
vision crops have always been abundantly produced for home consumption. 

It is to be regretted that a more detailed account of Holmes county 
could not have been obtained from one of her citizens prepared to speak, 
but the efforts of the Commissioner in this particular were, as in the case of 
several other counties, quite unavailing. 

JACKSON COUNTY. 

Area, 1,000 square miles; 640,000 acres. Population in 1830, 3,907 ; in 
1840, 4,681; in 1850, 6,639; in 1860, 10,209; in 1870, 9,528; in 1880, 
14,372. Public schools, 48 ; school lands unsold, 7,114 acres ; school age, 
8 341; white, 2,295 ; colored, 1,046 ; attendance, 1,795. Improved acres of 
land, 68,702. Horses and mules, 1,474; cattle, 11,727 ; sheep, 7,505 ; hogs, 
.8,875. Assessed value of property, $1,031,386. 

Jackson county is situated on the eastern part of what is known as 
West Florida, and is bounded on the north by the State of Alabama, on 
the east by the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola rivers, on the south by 
Calhoun, and on the west by Washington county and Holmes creek. Chat- 
tahoochee river divides the county from the State of Georgia. 

Area, Population and Topography. — This countj^ contains about 
one thousand square miles, or six hundred and forty thousand acres. The 
population of the county is shown by the census of 1880 to have been 
14,372, of 1870 to have been 9,528, an increase of 66 per cent, in the last 
ten years. The census of 1880 was very imperfectly taken, and it can be 
safely claimed that the p^piilatioa of the oiiatyat the pi-esent time is 
over 16,000. 

Adjoining the rivers on the eastern boundary of the county there is an 
extremely rich strip of land extending from one end of the county to the 
other. This strip of land is from one-half to two miles wide, and is the 
richest land in the State ; the onl^^ objection is that it is subject to over- 
flow. After leaving the river bottom there is a series of high hills, and 
then comes high rolling pine lands, interspersed with oak and hickory. 
Approaching the Chipola river and its tributaries is to be found large bod- 
ies of hammock land, which is veiy level and exceedingly fertile. These 
hammocks are to be found in the middle and northern parts of the county ; 
the western and southeri? parts of the count^^ are high pine land, with occa- 
sional oak and hickory lands. The Chipola river runs through the count}'- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 135 

and nearly divides the county in the centre. On either side are to be 
found rich lands covered with heavy growths of oak, bay, beech, poplar, wal- 
nut, magnolia, hickory maple and other trees. The land is high and rolling. 
The land in the northwestern part of the count}^ is of the same kind. The 
entire county is well watered ; on the eastern part by the Chattahoochee and 
Apalachicola rivers, and numerous springs and creeks, tributaries to these 
rivei's ; the middle of the county by the Chipola river and numerous 
creeks that flow into this river from both the eastern and western sides ; 
the western j)art of the county by Holmes creek and the streams that flow 
into it and into the Choctawhatchie river. The county is also interspersed 
with fresh water ponds. 

Soil. — The county has within its boundaries the largest area of ham- 
mock land to be found within the limits of any county in the State. The 
soil is varied, from the fertile river bottoms of the eastern part of the 
county to the high rolling pine lands of the western and southern portions. 
The river bottoms are well adapted to the cultivation of rice, sugar-cane, 
corn and cotton ; the pine lands to cotton, corn, sugar-cane, oats and 
other grains. There is a species of rice known as highland rice that pro- 
duces abundantly on this class of land. The hammock land is exceedingly 
fertile, and when fresh produces, without fertilization, thirty and forty 
bushels of corn, twenty to thirty bushels of oats, one-half to one bale of 
cotton and three hundred to eight hundred gallons of syrup per acre. 
These hammock lands are very lasting, being mostly of clay sub-soil, and 
need little or no fertilizing for ten or fifteen years. 

Productions. — The productions are as varied as the soil. Cotton, 
corn, oats, rice and sugar-cane are at present the staples, but other kinds of 
grain do well, such as barley, wheat and rye. Nearly all kinds of vegeta- 
bles can be raised successfully, and when there are better facilities for 
transportion, which will soon be aftbrded by the completion of the Pensa- 
cola and Atlantic Railroad, which runs through the centre of the county 
from east to west, no count}^ in the State will off"er better facilities for 
the profitable cultivation of cabbages, peas, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, 
strawberries, melons and fruit. Tue county, upon the completion of said 
road, which will be in operation by 1st January, 1883, will be nearer to the 
markets of Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati 
and other cities and towns of the Great West than any other agricultural 
county in the State. 

Live Stock. — The pine lands of the county afford splendid ranges for 
cattle, sheep and goats, and many of the citizens are eiigigL^l in raising 
them and find it exceedingly remunerative. The forests of pine as well as 
the thick haaimocks afford good ranges for hogs, which live principally 
upon the mast. The old fields that have been cleared of timber many years 
ago furnish fine pasturage for horses, mules and asses, as well as for sheep 
and cattle, 'and those who paid attention to the subject have found the rais- 
ing of live stock very profitable. 

Climate. -The climate is unequalled — the winters are never severe, 
and the nearness to the Grulf renders tlie summers mild and pleasant, and 
those who are suffering from pulmonary diseases can find no healthier 
place in the soutli in which to settle. The atmosphere is dry and pure, and 
■while the countv is close enough to the Gulf of Mexico to render the win- 



136 Florida — Itn Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

ters mild and the summers cool, it is at such a distance as to prevent the 
moist, foggy weather which some object to in other portions of the Style. 
The water is both free and limestone ; cool and pure springs abound ; wells 
and cisterns are easily made. 

Healthfulness. — Tliis county Is as healthy as any in the State. It is 
true that in certain localities persons are subject to chills and fever, but 
this is the exception rather than the rule, and cases of typhus, bilious fever 
and pneumonia are rare, and generall}^ are caused by the imprudence of per- 
sons themselves. Persons who have gone to that county on account of 
lung diseases in every instance, unless they came too late, have been cured 
or permanently benefited. 

Facilities for Milling and Factories. — The county abounds in 
bold swift creeks and small streams, which offer splendid inducements for 
the capitalist to invest in mills and factories. Chipola river, Ely's Mill 
creek, Blue Spring or Robinson's Spring creek, Holmes creek, Dr}'^ creek, 
and mau}^ others would be good places to build mills and factories upon. 
The forests abound in pine, oak, walnut, bay, magnolia, gum poplar, maples, 
cedar and other wood, and offer extra inducements to the lumbermen. 

Transportation. — The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad passe 
through the centre of the county, and the market gardener, the farmer and 
the lumberman will have ample facilities for the rapid transportation of 
their manufacture or produce. The people living in the eastern ]»art of the 
county have the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola rivers, which puts them in 
direct communication with Columbus, Ga., Eufaula, Ala., Apalachicola, 
Fla. The Chipola river is navigable for steamboats as far up as Marianna, 
which is almost the centre of the count}-. Holmes creek, which forms part 
of the western boundary of the county, is also navigable for small boats. So 
every section of the county is easy to get to, and all are aff'orded ample 
means of transportion for every kind of productions to markets north, east, 
south and west. 

Society. — The people of the county are industrious, sober, peaceable, 
and exceedingly hospitable, and will welcome all who come to settle with 
open arms. The society is as cultivated and refined as is to be found any- 
where in tlic South. The colored people are, as a general thing, quiet and 
industrious, and many of them have homes of their own, and are doing as 
well or better than in any other portion of the State. 

Lands. — Land can be bought very cheap, and is of every variety of 
soil. There are State lands to be had at from 75 cents to $2.50 per acre. 
United States lands can be homesteaded or pre-empted by paying the fees, 
or bought for $1.25 per acre. Railroad land that can be bought at from $1 
to $5 per acre. Private lands can be purchased at from 50 cents to $50 per 
acre, according to quality and locality. 

Towns and Villages. — Marianna, the county site, is a flourishing town 
near the centre of the county, has two large schools, one white and one col- 
ored, a fine court-house, five or six churches, and some twenty or thirty 
stores. The Pensacola and Atlantic Road runs through the town, and in 
view of its early completion has caused a great rise in the price of lots, and 
many citizens are now putting up large brick buildings. Greenwood, about 
eight miles west of Marianna, is a flourishing village in the centre of a 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. ISY 

large farming country. Campbelton is also a flourishing place in the 
northwestern part of the county. Neal's Landing, Port Jackson and Hay- 
ward's Landins; are situated on the Chattahoochee river and do a good 
business. Cottonton, a village that has sprung into existence since the 
Pensacola and Atlantic Road was projected, will soon be a flourishing 
place, and will be one of the lai'gest shipping points for cotton and other 
productions of that section that is situated on the Pensacola and Atlantic 
Road. 

Game. — The forests abound in game of every kind, such as bear, deer, 
turkeys, ducks, squirrels, foxes, raccoons and small game of every kind. 
Beavers and otters are found in many localities also. The streams and 
lakes teem with fish and turtle of every kind. To the sportsman this 
county will afford as much hunting and fishing as can be found anywhere in 
Florida. 

In short, to the capitalist who wishes to invest his money in mills and 
factories, to the truck farmer and market gardener, to the stock-raiser and 
farmer, the health-seeker and the sportsman, and all who wish to invest profit- 
ably in real estate, Jackson county offers facilities second to no county in 
the State. 

JEFFERSON COUNTY. 

Area, 560 square miles, or 358,400 acres. Population in 1830, 3,312 ; 
in 1840, 5,713; in 1850,7,718; in 1860, 9,876; in 1870, 13,398 ; in 1880, 
16,065. Number of public schools, 54 ; school lands unsold, 4,533 acres; 
children of school age, 6,769 ; school attendance, 1,842 ; acres of improved 
land, 94,228. Horses and mules, 2,037; cattle, 5,430 ; sheep, 1,196; hogs, 
6,059. Assessed value of property in 1881, $1,512,125. 

This county is one of the divisions generally denominated Middle Florida, 
though to one unaccpiainted with the map, the term conveys no intelligent 
idea of its real location. It lies near the center of that tier of northern 
counties bordering on Greorgia. The surface is generally high and rolling, 
offering within its limits all the varieties of topography that one could see 
in traveling through several States. Entering the county at the Georgia 
line, the tourist will first be. called on to admire the excellence of the soil 
that can produce such a magnificent growth of pine forest as skirts its 
upper border. Journeying further, he will note with pleasure the increas- 
ing luxuriance of vegetation and almost rugged picturesqueness of the 
landscape. Sometimes when he has climbed to tlie top of an exceptionally 
lofty hill the blue outline of some still higher ridge in the distance will 
almost delude him into the Ix^lief that he is still among the mountains. If 
it be winter he will need the presence of tropical fruits on every hand to per- 
suade him that he is really in the land of eternal spring. Passing the cen- 
tre and pushing on toward the southern boundary, he will be impressed 
with the ever increasing steepness and length of the attenuating hills, until 
finally reaching and gliding down the highest and most rugged declivity 
in his whole route, we will find himself in the " flat woods," which from 
there to the coast present nothing but the unvarying monotony of an end- 
less succession of pine trees. 

Had the traveler on reaching Monticello, the county site, instead of tak- 
ing the road leading south turned to the left and gone into the eastern part 
of the county, toward the valley of the Aucilla river, he would have seen 
some of the "finest farming lands in the world, consistingiof a system of ele- 



138 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

vated plateaus covered with original groves of live-oak, hickory, magnolia, 
poplar, sweet-gum, wild cherry, Florida mahogony and nu.i.erous other va- 
rieties of trees. This section is by far the most beautiful and inviting 
portion of the county. 

Again, had lie turned his horse's head to the northwest, towai'd Mic- 
cosukie lake, he would have been greeted with the same series of red hills, 
crowned with oak and hickory trees of wonderful size and luxuriance. 
Every jjledge of this surpassing topography is redeemed in the surprising 
fertility of the soil. 

Here nature never grows monotonous. If she has given variety and 
beauty of surface, it has not caused her to attempt to ^' even up " on soil. 
This feature is certainly the substantial attraction of this section. It differs 
both in kind and qualit^y, consisting of a rich alluvial deposit immediately 
on a stifl" clay bottom, or of a light loam deep to cla3^ The former com- 
prises by far the most numerous and desirable class, being both more fertile 
by nature, possessing more capacities for being made richer, and are more 
enduring. These are best suited to grow cotton and corn, while the other 
is adapted to long cotton, sugar-cane, sweet potatoes, &c. All the lands in 
the county belong to one or the other of these classes, except a strip of 
pine barrens in the extreme south, suitable for lumbering and cattle ranges, 
both of which industries are very profitable. The price of lands of this de- 
scription varies from 25 cents to $1 per acre; of the second class from $1 
to $2 per acre ; of first-class, from $3 to $6, according to fertility and loca- 
tion. A great man}- land-owners are anxious to divide their plantations 
into forty or eighty-acre-farras, which they are willing to sell, either for 
cash or on time with good security. A few have done this already, reserv- 
ing to themselves alternate sections ; others are following their example. 
Col. W. C. Bird, whose plantation lies on both sides of the railroad about 
one and a half miles from Monticello, has so divided his place and will sell 
to bona fide settlers who intend to improve and cultivate their purchases. 
There are about 384,000 acres of land in the county ; about 95,000 under 
cultivation. There were about 100,000 acres of State land in this county 
in 1875, which could have been bought for Y5 cents per acre. Mr. Disston 
has purchased a good deal of this, which is for sale by him. The whole 
county is well watered, and that j)ortion which needs it can be easily 
drained. 

As a natural consequence of the numerous water-sheds, there are many 
rivers and running branches, along whose banks maybe found innumeiable 
mill sites. Some few of these opportunities of nature have been utilized, 
but the majority still impatiently await the commands of capital and enter- 
prise. 

No mineral deposit of any value has yet been found, nor do we enter- 
tain any well-founded expectations in that direction. A lime kiln in the 
southern portion of the county has been successfully worked for a number 
of years. The large per cent, of clay in the soil renders the manufacture of 
brick a promising enterprise. 

Game. — Perliaps no portion of the State offers more enticing induce- 
ments to sportsmen in search of small game, such as wild turkey, squirrel 
and partridge or quail, than Middle Florida, and certainly no part of this 
section is so inviting a field as Jetterson county. Deer abound in limited 
numbers in the lower part. During the winter ducking on the Miccosukie 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 139 

lake, Aucilla river and the smaller lakelets and streamlets present keen and 
profitable entertainment to both the amateur and professional hunters. 

Railroads — ExisTiNa and Expected. — At present there is only one 
running through this count}', the Florida Central and Western. It enters 
on the west at Bailey's Mills, and passes oat on the east soon after leaving 
Williamsburg, in all ab:)at twenty- five or thirty miles of road within its 
limits. Fifteen miles north is the line connecting Savannah with Atlanta 
and the West. It is proposed, as soon as the rapidly progressing line to- 
ward Pensacola is completed, to connect the Georgia and Florida systems 
by a link from Monticello, the county site of Jetferson, to Thomasville, 
just twenty miles north. Mr, Disston's new roid, projected from Tallahas- 
see to Grainesville, will run through his lands in this county. Beside these 
media of transportation, an appropriation has been asked for dredging the 
Wacissa river, which empties into the Grulf of Mexico. When these are 
perfected our means of communication with the world will be entirely sat- 
isfactory. In addition to these enumerated improvements, other roads of 
more or less local importance, but without sufficient guaranty to demand 
their mention in an article whose author proposes to confine himself 
strictly to facts, a boast to which he finds it easy to conform, since he is 
assured the facts need no varnishing. 

Agricultural Products. — Cotton is the main crop of Jefferson 
county, and this remunerative, whether we regard the area cultivated or 
the number of pounds realized. It is at present the ready-money crop, and 
as such takes emphatic precedence of all others. The soil is peculiarly 
adapted to its growth, for, in addition to its being naturally productive, its 
power of retaining and accounting for manures is a very marked character- 
istic. The average yield, owing to indifferent cultivation, is not more than 
200 pounds of lint to the acre. Despite all these advantages, however, the 
average of this staple is being annually curtailed. This fact maj^ be ac- 
counted for in many ways without being unjust to the soil. In the first 
place labor is growing scarce. The colored people are deserting the cotton 
farms for the higher wages offered by the contractors of the new 
railroads, and by the orange-growers, who desire reliable laborers ca- 
pacitated to stand the climate where the fruit thrives best. This exodus is 
by no means regarded as an unmixed calamity. In fact, all save the imme- 
diate sufferers — the planters — are disposed to regard it rather as a tempo- 
rary^ inconvenience prefacing brighter things, the harbinger of the white 
man who, with thrift and superior energy, is soon to take the place of those 
whose late obnoxious presence has so long rendered his coming impossible. 
Should these prognostications prove prophetic, then indeed it will have 
proved a blessing in disguise. May we soon hail the day when the unde- 
manded skill and capital of other lands shall come to develop the dormant 
and shadowed resources of this nature-favored country. In giving the next 
important reason for the reduction of the cotton area, we disclose the real 
.basis of all our hopes of better things. This is the tardy discovery that 
cotton is least of all our richest resource. We have been late in learning 
that it will be better to raise twenty bushels of corn per acre, and supply 
south and east Florida with the bread the}' cannot produce; that it is infi- 
nitely more lucrative to net $200 an acre on Irish potatoes, or $500 on cab- 
bages, or something like it on peas, beans, cucumbers and watermelons. 
Several 3ears ago a few pioneer spirits disclosed the first glimpses of our 



140 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Froductions 

marvellous possibilities in truck-gardening. The experiments showed that 
although truckers in lower latitudes succeeded in getting their seed into 
the ground nearly two weeks earlier, yet by reason of the superiority of our 
soil we were ready to meet them in the market with vegetables of a more 
delicate quality. These disclosures led to moi'e extensive gardening with 
ever-increasing success. Last year was the best year of all. The spirit of 
diversified crops is upon the people, and the future is correspondingly 
bright. Truck-gardening has at last assumed in Middle Florida the 
proportions of a firmly-established industr}', recognized by the railroads in 
their special deductions. In a general way we have already indicated the 
average yield of different vegetables, perhaps it will not be amiss to become 
personal in our figures. The following is a specimen of a not unusual yield 
of Irish potatoes : Mr. W. Gr. Denham dug 26 barrels from ^ an acre ; 
freight to Philadelphia by express,- $1 per barrel ; returns showed gross re- 
ceipts to have been $6 ; net proceeds, $130 ; incidental expenses not over 
$10. The same land afterward put in cotton will probably yield a bale per 
acre. Results almost as satisfactory have been attained with the water- 
melon. Our soil and climate seem peculiarly fitted to the cultivation of 
this fruit. Messrs. W. and H. Girardeau, who have had large experience 
in trucking, consider the watermelon the most satisfactory garden product, 
being the most reliable. They have sixty acres in this vegetable alone. In 
addition to many other advantages over other portions of the country, we 
will soon be several hundred miles nearer the markets of the Great West. 

LiCoNTS Pears vs. Oivanqks. — The sudden and marvellous growth of 
any section may generally be attributed to the presence of some alluring 
bait to quick fortune to be gained with a small expenditui'e of time and 
labor. And it has been noticed that however weak the probabilities of 
these promises, adventursome mankind prefers them to the more reliable 
but more painful accumulation of a competency in less exceptional countries. 
California with her gold mines, Australia with her sheep farms, and lastly, 
Florida with her tempting orange groves, have each in their turn been 
sought and settled by '' those who mtike haste to be rich," &c. Hitherto 
this section, where oranges grow but not to be shipped, has been forced to 
content herself with the hope that her clear skies, balmy atmosphere, at- 
tractive surface, surpassing soil, cold, freestone water and cheap lands must 
eventuall}^ prove attractive to bona fide dwellers who come with their fami- 
lies to Tvin for themselves and dear ones healthy homes, and not insect-in- 
fested hospitals, who meanwhile expect to eat the food of mortals and not 
gorge themselves to death on windy hopes, to which the next frost or '' die- 
back " or legion of orange-exterminaters may put an untimely end. Nor 
have these hopes been entirely in vain. Manj^ have come, and, what is bet- 
ter, have come to stay, for tlieir expectations were not so high but that 
they have been realized in every instance. WhUe they did not come han- 
dicapped with dreams of golden affluence, yet, along with the natives, they 
seem fated to strike a bonanza more promising, certainly more reliable, 
than orange groves, gold mines or sheep farms. Sheep may take the chol- 
era, gold mines sometimes fail to " turn out " and orange trees often go 
into a decline, but the LeGonte pear neither blights, dies or fails to bear 
fruit. In outlining the possibilities of this new hybrid, and the revolution 
it is likely to produce in Middle Florida and Southwest Georgia, we are al- 
most tempted to dismiss it here with the invitation, defer your judgment 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 141 

and " come and see." The origin of this tree, lilie all the greatest blessings 
vouchsafed to mankind, is veiled in mystery. We wish we had space to 
insert the interesting legend concerning its history. Undoubtedly it is a 
modern hybrid ; by what skillful hand propagated none can tell. Nothing 
like it has ever been seen or described ; it is the "perfect pear." Its ex- 
cellence consists rather in a combination of the best points of all than au\^ 
peculiar attribute of its own. The LeConte is very hardy and of exceed- 
ingly rapid growth, but so is the sand pear; the iVuit is large and keeps 
well, so does the California ; it pos-^esses, when ripe, an ex(iuisite flavor, 
but so does the Seckle, the Bartlett and the Dutchess. The great curse and 
drawback to pear-culture has been " blight." The LeCoate has been 
planted since 1856, with not a single reported instance of this disease. 
They can only be produced from cuttings ; they are planted about twentj- 
flre feet apart, making about seventy trees to the acre ; they begin to bear 
at five years and at eight to ten will produce from twent3^-five to thirty 
bushels per tree. At present the price ranges from $3 to $8 per bushel, 
never going lower than the former. It costs about $40 to set out an acre, 
and after that they require no additional expenditure of money, since the 
land must be cultivated, generally in vegetables for the market. There are 
estimated to be in the pear section, novv set out and growing, about 500,- 
000 trees and cuttings. Some have adopted the plan of alternating with 
orange trees, that the pear may protect the orange from frosts. 

Pecans. — These trees grow rapidly and yield graciously. There are 
several gro\'-es in the county ; one in Monticello makes an average yield of 
ten bushels to the tree. They sell rea'dily at $2 per bushel. 

Monticello, the county site of Jefferson, is a town of about 1,500 in- 
habitants, beautifully situated on an elevated plane, or plateau, rather, to 
which all roads ascend ; is flanked on the west by a luxuriant forest of orig- 
inal oaks and ancient hickor3'- trees of dense foliage and extraordinary size 
and altitude. Towards the north and east and also on the south these are 
superseded by groves of aromatic pines, which enhance the beauty and ren- 
der the health of the town proverbial. The wells are deep, and supply it 
with cold and clear freestone water. There are about twenty-five or thirty 
retail stores, which meet all the demands of trade and supply all the com- 
mercial wants of the people. The educational advantages are all that could 
be desired. A free school, which emploj^s three teachers and is open ten 
months of the year, is supported from the public school fund. The Metho- 
odist. Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopal denominations have each a, neat 
church building and support a preacher. The people are hospitable, affable 
to strangers and each other, and not at all disposed to be exclusive, either 
as to social or political rights. They have awakened at last to the real 
needs of the country, and are eager in their welcome and attention to those 
who come to live among them. 

The author of this article will cheerfully give more detailed informa- 
tion to all interested. R. TURNBULL, Monticello, Fla. 

LEON COUNTY. 

Area, 900 square miles or 576,000 acres. Population in 1830,6,494; 
in 1840, 10,713 ; in 1850, 11,442 ; in 1860, 12,343 ; in 1870, 15,236 ; in 1880, 
19,662. Number of public schools, 49 ; number of private schools, 6. The 



142 Florida — Jla Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



West Florida Seminary, with separately located buildings for male and 
female departments, and full corps of teachers in each, located in Leon. 
School laud unsold, 1,046 acres; children of school age, 6,769; average 
school attendance, 2,150 ; acres of improved land, 76,863. Horses and. 
mules, 3,277 ; cattle, 10,000 ; sheep, 2,000; hogs, 7,000. Assessed value of 
real property, $1,684,732. 

This rich agricultural county of Leon is centrallj' located in the beau- 
tiful "hill country- '' of Middle Florida. The general characteristics of 
the northern portion of that part of the State of Florida lying between the 
rivers Suwannee and Apalachicola, embracing the counties of Madison, 
Jetferson, Leon and Gadsden, are entirely different from those of any other 
section of the State, unless it be part of the county of Jackson west of the 
Apalachicola river. 

The very terms of description usually eraploj^ed in the land-offices in 
Florida to designate character and quality of the several classes of land, 
viz : First, second, and third-class pine, " high and low hammock " and 
"swamp,'' are all inappropriate and misleading when applied to the greater 
part of this section. For in much the greater part of Jefferson, Leon and 
Gadsden counties, at least, the character of the soli as well as the timber 
growth is radically different from that of any section of the State where 
any of these descriptive terms are severally applied. There are in Leon 
county some belts of i^andy loam^ covered with magnolia, water-oak, live- 
oak and iron-wood that are indeed called rjray hammocks to distinguish 
them from pine lands, and these correspond fairly with such lands as are 
generally termed "• high hammocks " in other parts of the State. But they 
are the thin, places in Leon — where there is more sand than cla\^ — and have 
always occupied a secondary place in the estimation of the farmers of this 
region. .They have been found to produce well enough while neiv^ but like 
sand}^ land the world over, a few years cultivation serves to exhaust the 
virgin supply of humus, and then the application of commercial fertilizers 
becomes necessary. For this reason the farmers of Leon long since learned 
to let them severely alone, and the3' have been left as the main source of 
fuel supply, while the farmers have directed their attention to the 

RED LANDS, 

or what in this section are veritable hammocks — a deep clay soil underlaid 
at six to ten feet with limestone, and covered (when newly cleared) with a 
foot or even more of blackened mold or humus, aiising from the decompo- 
sition of leaf deposits. These red clayey hammock lands of Leon county 
experience has for forty years demonstated to be superior to any in Florida 
for ixW farming^ grazing or horlicuUural purposes. 

It has become so generally understood of Florida that the extensive 
waste of sandy pine woods that the visitor meets with in East and South 
Florida is a sample of the whole State, that it is with difficulty that the 
average settler in the east and south can be induced to believe in the exist- 
ence in the middle part of the State of a really fertile and attractive agri- 
cultural region. The fact that as iong ago as 1828-35 tiiis area of magnifi- 
cent land in Middle Florida became known to large planters in Virginia 
and the Carolinas, who immediately entered it from the United States Gov- 
ernment, leaving the extensive pine barrens all over the State vacant, 
conclusively shows how they then compared with any other lands in the 
State. 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 143 



More extensive plantation clearings are to be found in Leon than in any 
other part of the State. For mile after mile one rides through plantation 
lanes with broad fields of cotton, grain, sugar-cane, grass and other planta- 
tion crops on either hand. 

Until very recently there has been no land for sale in Leon county. 
Being a very high rolling clay country, there are no swaraps or overflows, 
and consequently the State acquired title to only an occasional forty or 
eight^^-acre tract in the county ; and, indeed, the good land was all entered 
before the passage of any of the acts of Congress vesting certain lands in 
the State Government, consequently there has been no public lands to enter 
for forty or fifty years. And so valuable have these old plantations proven 
since the war that even with the shiftless, improvident system of colored 
tenantry, the proprietors have idealized a steady and abundant income. 
With the gradual passing away of old men, with a fixed set of ideas, 
these plantations have, by purchase and inheritance, descended to the hands 
of a younger generation of men, less wedded to old customs and inclined 
to be more self-reliant. Within a few years past these latter-day proprietors, 
recognizing tlie benefits to be derived from elevating and advancing the 
standard of agricultural excellence, and despairing of accomplishing with 
the black man, in one generation, what it required more than six centuries 
for his white brother to evolve, they have gradually determined to sell off 
their lands, to encourage immigration, to induce a development here of a 
diversified system of farming, to introduce labor-saving machines, and, in a 
word, to bring about ihat radical change of social and industrial purpose 
that common sense dictates should accompany the radical change of cir- 
cumstances in the New South. 

With this end in view, the good people of old Leon have been heartily 
in earnest within a year or two last past. Large planters, whose operations 
were perfectly satisfactory, to whom there was no money inducement offer- 
ing for a change, have voluntarily cut their large estates into parts, and 
some of these parts they have sub-divided into 10, 20, 30, 40 and 80-acre 
farms, and put on the mai'ket at figures ofien not greater than the annual 
r> ntal they have been accustomed to receive. Farmers' clubs have been or- 
ganized, agricultural and mechanical associations instituted, exhibitions 
made, descriptive pamphlets prepared, published and gratuitously distributed, 
the exclusive production of cotton abandoned, larger areas put to grain and 
grass, thoroughbred bulls, bucks, boars and horses introduced and liberally 
used. Firm, yellow home-made butter and sweet and juicy fresh home- 
cured hams have been made to take the place of the greasy stuff before im- 
ported fi'om the West. Mowers, reapers, horse-rakes, threshing-machines, 
evaporating pans, steel plows, sub-soilers and harrows are now performing 
the labor of this section in the hands of a few intelligent operatives where 
formerly many inefficient negroes and tiieir primitive implements were left 
to kill time and butcher the land. Fiehls fallen into disuse since the war, 
or heretofore subjected to impoverishing scratchings, have been made mel- 
low under the heavy double teams driven afield, and results have attended 
the harvest that are truly wonderful in the eyes of the old planters. A 
spirit of improvement and progress has taken possession of our people. 
They have within the last twenty-four months awakened to the fact that 
the production of earl}' vegetables and fruits is remunerative, if the crops 
can be put into market, and a further very significant discovery is that in 



144 Florida — Ms Climate, Soil and Productions. 

Florida, Leon county, with one or two of lier immediately adjoining sis- 
ters, are beyond question better suited to 

TRU0K-FAR3IING, DAIRYIInG AND FRUIT-GROWING 

than au}'^ other section. This assertion is made without fear. of controver- 
sion. Our lands are va&tly su{)erior, and when not already possessed of 
virgin fertility sufficient to make vegetable-growing profitable, have that 
advantage, enjoyed nowhere else in the State, of being susceptible of per- 
manent improvement at a very insignificant outla}' for manure. What is 
stated on page 49 of this pamphlet relative to the renovation of old land by 
rotation of crops, and the superiority of the " beggai'-weed " for that pur- 
pose, explains the true secret of the permanently good quality of Leon 
county lands. There is really no wear out to them. Like a good oil-stone 
they are good all the way through. The clay is full of mineral salts that in 
themselves are sufficient for the profitable production of many crops. But 
most plants, and particularly all vegetables, (which must be tender to be 
edible,)' must have humus or rotting vegetable matter to sustain them, 
and when any method for supplying this want quite equal to " beggar- 
weed " is discovered, we want to be there to see, and when it is made appar- 
ent that such a thing is even possible on a poor sandy soil, where the sand 
is as hot as roasted cofiee when the sun shines and leaches lilie a seive when 
it rains, we will cease to claim a superiorit}"^ for Leon county and ker imme- 
diate neighbors over any other part of Florida. 

It is in just this particular that we are inclined to advocate this section 
of Florida to intending settlers. While all classes of good people are de- 
sirable, the particular class of immigrants to whom the lands in Leon will 
prove attractive are 

FARMERS. 

Men of practical knowledge in agricultural pursuits will immediately rec- 
ognize in the surroundings here the conditions incidental to success, comfort 
and profit. 

To just how high a standard of productive excellence the red 
lands of Leon are susceptible of being carried by the judicious application 
of approved methods of culture, is yet to be ascertained, but here is an ex- 
ample of what is being done. Mr. John P. Roberts, living three miles west 
of Tallahassee, and cultivating land that has been constantl}^ under cultiva- 
tion for thirt}' years, has at this writing (August, 1882), 400 acres of corn 
produced, without the ap)p)lication of an ounce of fertilizer, that a commit- 
tee of three of his neighbors report will average sixty bushels of corn to 
the acre. Nor is Mr. Roberts alone in such work. There are many farms 
in the county where as good results are being had. 

LANDS IN LEON COUNTY 

suitable for fruit and vegetable farms are be to had in such bodies as pur- 
chasers may desire, and at prices within the reach of any one. 

One advantage a settler has in buying open land in a populous com- 
munity is he loses no time and money in clearing land. Few people who 
have not tried it have any idea of the labor and expense of clearing land, and 
as few consider the very important feature of newly-cleared land being un- 
kealthy. Where a settler purchases a piece of good clay land ready cleared, 
he can begin work next day, and there is gotten rid of the years of privation 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 145 

and toil one has to engage in in making a new place in the woods. This 
thing of going into the woods, away from civilized surroundings, is well 
enough suited to a man or a wolf, but is a shade off for ivomen. There is 
to be found in Leon county as pleasant surroundings as exist anywhere in 
the world. The climate winter and summer is delightful. The healthful- 
ness of the county is proverbial. Malignant types of fever are exceed- 
ingly rare. Chills and fever certainly do occur with some people, but so 
far as the writer knows this is true everywhere in America, and we can 
truthfully say that after a temporary residence in several States North and 
South, we are satisfied of there being less chills and fever in this part of 
Florida than anywhere we have ever lived. 

For many years Tallahassee has been a winter resort for persons 
aflSicted with lung and throat troubles, and we know of scarcely an instance 
in which they have not been benefited, in many cases becoming permanent 
residents. The very absurd habit that obtains with many writers of repre- 
senting their section of Florida as absolutely free from chills at all seasons 
is, we think, unworth}^ an honest man. We do have some chill* and fever 
in Leon county. This is generally perhaps exclusiA^ely true of those who 
utterly ignore all established rules of health ; cool off when wet with pers- 
piration in draught, eat imprudently of improperly cooked food, green 
fruit and other trash. But we do assert that even chills and fever are less 
prevalent in this part of Florida than in any other part of the State with 
which we are familiar after a very intimate and extended acquaintance of 
thirty years. 

What we deem salient features among the attractions of this section to 
intelligent settlers of all classes, are excellent lands, picturesque and beau- 
tiful locations, hard, smooth roadways, no mud in winter nor blistering 
white sand and glare in summer ; excellent transportation facilities, good 
schools, many churches, pleasant social neighbors, good pasturage that 
afford good milk and butter and beef, and all this where the county makes 
its own bread and other staple home supplies. 

A new spirit of improvement has at last taken possession of the people of 
Leon. New roofs and long lines of barbed wire fencing glisten in the sunlight 
as we look across the plantation county, and in Tallahassee the hammer 
and trowel are busily at work. Two large and commodious new hotels, 
new banking-house, a number of brick stores and tasty dwellings have been 
erected within the past year, and now goes up a ver}' elegant new court- 
house of pressed brick with stone and iron trimmings. Young orchards 
of peaches and pear have sprung up in all directions out of town, while 
thrifty young orange groves are making strides toward maturity. Real 
property begins to enhance rapidly in value. Inquiries from all parts of 
the world are pouring in. Daily parties are arriving and prospecting for 
desirable locations for orchards, truck farms, winter homes, &c., and truly 
the good people of Leon are made glad at the dawning prosperity awaiting 
us all. 

A very excellent little pamphlet descriptive of Leon county has re- 
cently been published by the Leon County Farmers' Club and is distribu- 
ted free to applicants on receipt of 3 cents postage. These papers have 
been carefully prepared by practical members of the club severally familiar 
with the following subjects : I., History and Topography ; II., Climate and 
Healthfulness ; III., Attractions Presented to Immigrants ; IV., Agricultural 
Productions ;Y., Stock-raising ; VI., Vegetable-culture ; VII., Dairy-farming 
10 



146 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 

YIII., Poultry; IX., Fruit-culture; X., Flowers of Leon County; XL, 
Transportation Facilities ; XII., Exemption Laws, Interest, &c. ; XIIL, 
Hunting and Fishing; XIV., Labor; XV., Land, Public and Private; 
XVI., Conclusion. 

Letters addressed to R. C. Long, Tallahassee, Florida, will receive 
prompt attention, and pamphlet will be sent on receipt of the postage. 

LEVY COUNTY. 

Area, 940 square miles or 601,600 acres. Population in 1850 was 465 ; 
in 1860, 1,881; in 1870, 2,018; in 1880, 5,767. Number of schools, 20; 
school lands unsold, 15,280 acres ; of school age, 2,457 ; white, 1,583 ; col- 
ored, 874; school attendance, 868; improved, land, 7,812 acres. Horses 
and mules, 926; cattle, 9,954 ; sheep 394; hogs, 3,917. Assessed valua- 
tion of property, $643,599. 

Appended is a descriptive paper of Levy county prepared by Col. Wm. 
H. Sebring, of Brortson, who is Coresponding Secretary of the Levy County 
Immigration Society: 

The surface is principally undulating pine lands and generally fertile, 
and are susceptible of a high state of cultivation. There is a strip of low 
pine land, interspersed with creeks and cypress ponds, dividing the higher 
pine lands from the Gnlf hammock. The higher portion of this great Gulf 
hammock is unexcelled for the culture of Indian corn, upland rice, upland 
cotton, tobacco, potatoes and oats. This hammock is interspersed by nu- 
merous bays and streams that are navigable for small boats, thus giving an 
outlet for the transportation of produce. 

Up and down the coast this section of the county is not dependent 
upon railroad transportation to market their cereals. The Suwannee river 
enters the Gulf on the western boundary, the Withlacoochee on the south- 
ern, with the Wacasassa river midway between. The first two named of 
these rivers are navigable for small steamers. The Florida Transit Rail- 
road runs from northeast to southwest through the county near its centre, 
and intersects the Gulf of Mexico at the thriving town of Cedar Keys. 

The health of Levy county will compai'e favorably with the healthier 
portions of the North, aad our climate is not surpassed. We are warmed 
in winter by the Gulf stream and cooled by it in summer, making our 
county delightful the year round. 

Bi"onson, the county site of Levy county, is situated on the Florida 
Transit Railroad, thirty-three miles from Cedar Keys ; is extremely 
healthy ; has schools and churches ; has one hotel and three good boarding- 
houses, and is a pleasant resort for the hunter and the invalid to spend the 
winter months. Bronson is immediately on the route of the survey of the 
Live Oak and Charlotte Harbor Railroad, and the starting point of the 
branch of the Florida Transit Railroad to the Suwannee river, and is the 
main shipping point for the agricultural products of the county. 

Cedar Keys is the principal town in the county, being the terminus of 
the Florida Transit Railroad to the Gulf of Mexico, and is a United States 
port of entry. Vessels load at this port for all parts of the world, and the 
trade with Cedar Keys for miles up and down the coast amounts to hundreds 
of thousands of dollars per year. It is a prosperous, thriving town and des- 
tined to be a very important place. A regular line of steamships run from 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 147 

this port to the West Indies. But few points on the Gulf do the amount 
of business that is done at this thriving town. There are two hotels at 
this place, which are at all times well filled. There are several fine concrete 
stores and dwellings but recently completed, which speaks well for her 
people. There was shipped from this port last year : 

1,701,003 pounds of fish, valued at $08,040.13 

53,739 pounds of sreen turtle, valued at 3,224.34 

3,250 barrels of oysters, valued at 4,462.00 

Yellow pine and cedar shipped, valued at 352,000.06 

Estimated value of other commodities 239,790.00 

Value of exports other than above 22,950.00 

Value of Imports 4,980.00 

There arrived and departed from the port of Cedar Keys during the 
last year as follows : 

Mail steamers 374 I Steamers going coastwise 103 

Steamers for foreign ports 34 | Sail vessels coastwise 67 

Vessels entering not required to clear, 1,696 ; and from present indi- 
cations the basiness of this port with foreign countries will double itself 
the next twelve months. 

Otter Creek is a station on the Florida Ti'ansit Railroad, it being the 
point where the traveler leaves the railroad to reach the great Gulf ham- 
mock. Deer .nnd wild turkey abound near this station. 

Rosewood is a pleasant little place with one hotel and one store, and is 
at the edge of the hammock on the Florida Transit Railroad. 

Williston is situated in the eastern portion of the county in the cen- 
tre of a fine agricultural section ; some of the finest orange trees in the 
county are in this neighborhood, and the people invite immigration. 

Levyville, the former county site, is a thriving village in the midst of 
a fine farming section, situated as it is half way between the Florida Transit 
Railrf)ad and the Suwannee river, it does a fine business in the handling of 
live stock, lumber, Sea-Island cotton, oats, potatoes, &c. Its health, location, 
good schools, pleasant society and populous neighborhood offer superior 
inducements to settlers. Iron ore in large quantities is fosnd near this 
place and a company has alread}' been organized to work the mine. A 
route for a branch road from Bronson to the Suwannee river, running by 
these mines, has been surveyed and will be soon built. The survey of the 
Live Oak, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor Railroad, that will cross a portion 
of Levy county, runs near by. 

Oranges. — The culture of the orange is comparatively a new industry 
in Levy county. The older citizens never entertained the idea that the 
raising of the orange would ever be in any way a profitable crop, and were 
content in raising enough for home consumption. The oranges shipped 
from this county have in all cases sold for a good price, and it is but very 
recently- that the people of this county have turned their attention to or- 
ange-growing, and we can to-day show some as fine 5''0ung groves as are in 
Florida. We are on the same line as Orange Lake and I)eLand, and we 
are south of Palatka and San Mateo. No groves in this county were in- 
jured by the freeze of 1880, and no county in Florida offers so fine a field 
for orange-culture as Levy. Our lands are good — gray loam underlaid 
with clay, marl and limstone. As for fruit we challenge comparison. The 



148 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

peftches grown in Levy county will compare with those raised in Kentucky, 
Maryland and Virginia, and in all cases are true to the seed. 

Value of improved farms $235,872.00 

Value of farming implements $23,330.00 

Value of live stock $146,315.00 

Number of hor.scs and mules 926 

Number of horned cattle 10, 105 

Number of swine 3,864 

Number of bushels of Indian corn 45,386 

Number of bushels of oats 16,804 

Number of bales of Sea-Island cotton 1,254 

Value of same at $100 i>er bale $125,400.00 

8,350 bushels of cotton seed shipped to foreign ports, valued at $1,419.50 

Nuiuber of acres of land in cultivation in Sea-Island cotton 3,658 

Syrup from West India suoar-cane, (gallons) 40,000 

Value of same . /:. $20,000.00 

Sugar, 300 barrels, value ^. . $4,800.00 

Ufiland rice, 200 barrels, value •. $2,000.00 

Sweet potatoes, 50,000 bushels, value '. . . $20,000.00 

Irish potatoes, 500 barrels, value i . . . $2,000.00 

VegetaMes, crates 6,283 

Dry hides shipped, 29,586, value $3,846.00 

Yellow pine lumber shipped, feet. 30,000,000 

Value of .same $300,000.00 

Red Cedar manufactured $200,000.00 

Value of grist and cedar mills, saw-mills and other machinery $80,000.00 

Value of ties exported • • • • $84, 160.00 

Value of Live stock sold $69,000.00 

Number of orange trees in groves 40,000 

The Levy County Immigration Society has its office at Bronson, Fla. 

LAFAYETTE COUNTY. 

Area, 940 square miles or 601,600 acres. Population in 1860, 2,068 ; 
in 1810, 1,783; 1880, 2,441. Number of schools, 17 ; school lands unsold, 
19,G98 ; of school age, 641 ; school attendance, 313. Acres of improved 
land, 1,154. Horses and mules, 489 ; cattle, 13,396 ; sheep, 525 ; hogs, 
4,954. Asses.sed value in 1881, $246,987. 

Lafayette is one of the Gulf counties of the Middle Florida division of 
the State. It has excellent facilities for transportation on the Suwannee 
river, which separates it from Levy and Alachua, and is navigable up to 
Rowland's Bluff. The recent completion of the Live Oak and Rowland's Bluff 
Railroad make, in connection with the river transportation, an easy outlet 
for the products of the eastern part of the count3\ Hamilton Disston has 
also selected a large body of land in the adjoining county of Taylor, and with 
his associates has incorporated and contemplates the earl}' construction of 
the Georgia, Florida and Midland Railroad, from the Georgia line in Gads- 
den count3% via Tallahassee to Gainesville, passing centrally through the 
county of Lafaj^ette. This will make immediately available the great sup- 
ply of lumber and turpentine. 

There is a good deal of excellent hammock land in this county not yet 
turned to agricultural account. In this county are to be found some of the 
best timbered pine lands in the State. 

This proposed road from Gainesville, through the county, via Talla- 
hassee to the Northwest, will more than double the value of the real estate of 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 149 



the county, while every advantage of social life and commercial convenience 
will be enhanced in a yet hig er degree. 

New Tro}", on the Suwannee river, is the county site. 

All the staple agricultural crops of long and short cotton, corn, oats, 
r^'^e, rice, sugar-cane and potatoes are profitably produced, soil and climate 
being excellent, and the health of the county as good as any part of the 
State. Fruits have, as in all isolated localities, been but little cultivated, 
but all the temperate zone varieties that can be successfully propagated 
elsewhere in the State can be grown in Lafayette, and the orange does as 
well or better than in more easterl}^ localities of the same latitude, the Gulf 
coast being somewhat warmer and more protected from northeasterly gales. 
The development of Lafayette is to be a thing in the near future. Rail- 
roads will in a few years put her further ahead than she has progressed in 
the past twenty-five years. 

MADISON COUNTY. 

Area, 850 square miles, 544,000 acres. Population in 1830, 525 ; in 
1840, 2,644; in 1850, 5,490; in 1860, 7,779; in 1870, 11,121; in 1880, 
14,798. Public schools, 44; school land unsold, 5,778 acres; of school 
age, 5,000 ; white 1,912; colored, 3,088. School attendance, 2,420. Acres 
of improved land, 82,150. Horses and mules, 2,218; cattle, 10,589; sheep, 
2,181, hogs, 10,860. Assessed value of property in 1881, $1,233,950. 

The following paper on Madison county has been kindly furnished us 
by Mr. W. R. Boyd, of the town of Madison, who will be pleased to answer 
all letters of inquiry addressed to him. 

Geograpuy. — Madison county lies east of Jefferson, from which it ex- 
tends to the Suwannee river on the east ; from the Georgia line on the 
north to Taylor on the south. 

The Lands. — This county is divided into three distinct classes of 
lands. In the eastern portion it is high, dry pine land, not very fertile 
but susceptible of great improvement by judicious fertilizing. This sec- 
tion of the county is better adapted to the raising of peaches, apples and 
that class of fruits than any other portion of the county. The water is not 
so good as in some other sections and much scarcer. The southern, cen- 
tral and western portions of the county are mostly hammock of the best va- 
rieties, abundantly watered, interspersed by beautiful lakes tilled with the 
choicest fish, occasionally traversed by beautiful streams. The northern 
portion of the county is greatly diversified, but the extreme southern por- 
tion of the county is what is known in Florida as flat-woods, a low, flat 
country, in the winter and spring usually almost entirely inundated, but 
with high knolls and fertile ridges where 1:he settlers usually reside. The 
hammock lands of Madison county are as fine lands as can be found any- 
where on the peninsula, and well adapted to the growing of cotton, corn, 
sugar-cane, oats and every variety of vegetables that can be grown in the 
State. With a good clay sub-soil they are especially adapted to the raising 
of Irish potatoes, turnips and cabbages. Other vegetables grow equally as 
well, but so far have not proved as remunerative possibly as those above 
enumerated, but as vegetable-raising has hitherto been confined simply 
to the home garden, it is hard to say which crops on these fine soils will do 
best. The flat-woods might be made, by proper management, to yield abun- 



150 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

dant crops of rice, whilst the eastern pine lands produce some of the finest 
long-staple cotton that is raised in Florida. Last year not a single bushel 
of corn was shipped to this county, but upon the contrary thousands of 
bushels were sent from Madison to other portions of the State. Live stock 
thrives here, and a great deal more interest is being manifested b}^ our cit- 
izens in this branch of industry by obtaining better breeds of cattle and hogs. 
There are several imported Alderney cattle now in the county, and they do 
equally as well as further up North, Poland China, Berkshire, Essex, 
Chester and other choice breeds of hogs are common, and ere long Madison 
will no longer have to depend upon the West for her meat supply, as most 
of our farmers are raising their own meat. 

The price of lands in Madison county varies from $L25 to $10 per acre, 
according to quality and location. Lands can be obtained on easy terms 
by permanent settlers. 

The mortuar}'^ statistics of this county compare favorably with any 
other portions of the State. The writer of this article came to this county 
six years ago and has not kept his bed a single da}^ from sickness since he 
arrived in the State. We have occasionally in some portions of the county 
slight chills and fevers, but these as the country grows older become much 
less frequent. Some bilious and malarial fevers, but upon the whole I 
have seen less sickness in Madison county than I ever saw for the same 
length of time in the hill country of North Carolina, which is universally 
considered to be the healthiest portion of the Southern States. 

The inhabitants are, for the most part, immigrants or descendants of 
Georgia and the Cai'olinas, and the colored population, which outnumbers 
the white by a large majority. They are generally an agricultural people 
and are more thrifty and industrious than in most parts of the State. 

The public schools are maintained about three months in the year. 
There are besides private schools, which are kept up all the year. There 
are several good school-houses and academies in different parts of the 
county. The citizens of the county are wide awake to the importance of 
education, both white and colored, and are endeavoring to create moi*e in- 
terest in this respect than formerly by securing competent teachers. 

Nearly all the Christian denominations are represented in the county. 
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians all have good 
houses of worship in the county. Catholics usually have a visitation of 
their priests at least twice a j^ear, but they have no church. The colored 
people have good houses at which they worship all over the county. They 
are mostly of the Methodist or Baptist faith. 

Towns. — Madison, the county seat, situated on the Florida Central 
and Western Railroad, about fift}^ miles east of Tallahassee, is quite a bus- 
iness centre. Here both long and short staple cotton is raised in great 
abundance. There are some forty or fifty places of business in the town, 
two first-class drug stores, and dry goods and grocery establishments suffi- 
cient to supply the wants of the people, milling and giuuing establishments 
of huge proportion. The town contains about one thousand inhabitants, 
has six nice churches, and also is the site of St. Johns Seminary, an insti- 
tution for the education of both sexes, the best court-house in the State, 
and if no first-class hotels, some of as good boarding houses as can be 
found in the State. The greatest need is suitable buildings for hotel pur- 
poses. Inglisville, one of the suburbs of Madison, is located at the depot, 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 151 

contains two stores, several private residences, a first-class boarding house, 
and the largest ginning and grist and rice milling establishments in this 
section of Florida. Both Madison and luglisville are famous for the 
beauty of their elegant shade trees, the streets are well laid out, and the 
magnificent live-oaks are the wonder and admiration of all beholders ; 
beautiful lakes almost surround the town, and for beauty of location the 
town is not surpassed in Florida. Greenville, fifteen miles west of Madi- 
son, is a thriving little town with five or six good stores and two boarding- 
houses, also a steam mill and ginning establishment. EUaville, fifteen 
miles east on the confluence of the Withlacoochie and Suwannee rivers, is 
justly noted for its immense lumbering business, being the seat of Ex-Gov- 
ernor Drew's large mills, possibly the largest in the South. It is quite a 
business town and contains quite a number of elegant private residences. 
Mosely Hall, about fourteen miles south of Madison, is also a place of con- 
siderable business, especially in the fall and winter season. Located in the 
heart of a fine farming community, during the cotton picking season, it is 
quite lively. This place is especially noted for its healthfulness, and the 
purity and coldness of its watei-. Several large vineyards are owned here 
by planters, near the place, and grape culture is receiving considerable at- 
tention, which so far proves quite a success. Several small orange groves 
are in this communit}^, which bear abundantly, in fact, oranges are raised 
for home consumption all over the entire county. Hamberg and Cherry 
Lake are in the northern part of the county, and are both thriving little 
villages. Madison county presents to the immigrant, seeking a home in 
Florida, as many advantages and attractions as any other portion. He has 
the opportunity of selecting just such lands as are adapted to the growing 
of whatever crops he may desire to raise — if short or long cotton, cane and 
corn, oranges, grapes, peaches and truck farming, he can easily select soils 
adapted to each or all of these various products. Our citizens extend a 
hearty welcome to all w^ho may come within her borders, whether the cap- 
italist seeking to invest his capital, or the laborer who desires a living from 
his labor, can alike here find a home and hospitable friends to assist him in 
the development of the vast and untold resources of this county, and it 
matters not from what section, or of what religion, or what politics, he 
may be assured that he will find a place where ere long he can worship un- 
der his own vine and fig tree, with none to molest or make him afraid. 

MAIS^ATEE COUNTY. 

Area, 4,680 square miles ; 2,995,200 acres. Population in 1860, 834 ; 
in 1870, 1,931 ; in 1880, 3,544. Number of public schools, 44 ; school lands 
unsold, 86,772 acres; scholars of school age, 1,285 ; whites, 1,243 ; colored, 
42 ; attendance, 571 ; number of acres improved land, 1,993. Horses aad 
mules, 855 ; cattle, 53,273 ; sheep, 1,329 ; hogs, 8,892. Assessed value of 
property in 1881, $899,556. 

Col. John G. Webb, of Sarasota, has kindly supplied us with the follow- 
ing article on Manatee county : 

Manatee county is mostly situated between the 27tli and 28th parallels 
of latitude, a little of it extending below the 27th, and it cannot be suc- 
cessfully disputed that it embraces the most southern body of desirable 
land of much extent in Florida, for, except the islands on the coast below 
it and a narrow strip on both banks of the Caloosahatchie,only a few miles 



152 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



below, if not within our boundary, and the Lake Worth region in Dade 
county — of no great extent — I do not know of any very choice locations 
south of it. 

In considering the desirableness of any region as a residence, there are 
many considerations that enter into a reasonable estimate. In a general 
way they may be referred to under the following heads, viz : 1st, Cli- 
mate ; 2d, Soil ; .3d, Character of the Inhabitants ; 4th, Accessibility. 

If a man is seeking for a cold climate he will look elsewhere than in 
Florida, and if he is seeking a warm and almost frostless one he will be 
likely to go as far south, even in Florida, as he can get, provided always 
that the climate in other respects is inviting. He will ask : " Is the cli- 
mate healthful ?" I answer that there is no healthier region in Florida, 
and I doubt whether there is in the United States. I resided in the county 
for several years before there was more than one doctor in it, and I don't 
think that he got rich very fast, though an excellent and scientific physi- 
cian. There are new in the county just four practicing physicians, and 
two of them are engaged in mercantile business, and one of those two also 
edits and publishes a newspaper. The truth is our people are not often 
very sick, and many things which come under the cogni2iance of a doctor 
in other States are got along without his assistance here, and apparently 
just as well. 

I think the most material feature of our county is the size of the fami- 
lies. Children do not seem to be born here to die, but to live, and yet I do 
not think our people live well, or pay any attention to speak of to the laws 
of health. It is from such facts as these that I draw my conclusions as to 
the comparative healthfulness of our climate. 

Another feature of a climate is the presence or absence of noxious in- 
sects. Let us examine that question. Away from the coast mosquito-bars 
are the exception, but I think that during a part of every summer people 
would study their comfort if they provided their beds with them. It is a 
curious fact that the presence of mosquitoes in large numbei'S depends upon 
excessive droughts. In a normal condition of things, wlien the ponds do 
not dry up, the fish, of which the ponds are always full, destroy the wrig- 
glers, and mosquitoes are only produced in such wet places as are destitute 
offish. But when the ponds, as they are sometimes, are completely dried 
up, and are again filled by the rains, and before they get stocked with fish, 
the wrigglers flourish, with no enemies to keep them down, and generate 
mosquitoes in countless millions. But the fish reappear from some un- 
knowji hiding places, and in a few weeks restock the ponds with young 
fish and the mosquitoes disappear. 

On the coast, while they are never as numerous as they are sometimes 
in the interior, they are more persistent, though scarcely noticeable except 
in July, August and September. But the draining (and sometimes this is 
a simple affair) of the sand flats, where the tide and rain make brackish 
water, makes a great difference with them. Sand fleas are just as bad, and 
no worse than in light sandy soils anywhere where dogs and hogs are 
allowed to run in and under the house. House-flies need never be seen and 
ought never to be seen in any well-regulated house, or, rather, house with 
properly-regulated surroundings. 

We have the large rattlesnake, not exactly the same species found 
North and West, and away from the coast the ground-rattlesnake, and in 
and about sloughs several Tarieties of the moccasin, and we have a variety 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 153 

of harmless snakes, some of which make war upon the venomous kinds. No 
white man here ever thinks of destroying a harmless snake, or ever fails to 
kill a harmful one. 

The next question of climate is[ temperature. I could give yearly and 
monthly means, but I will not, but prefer to say generally that our short 
winter in Manatee county is much like the first half of October, minus the 
rains of that season, in Central New York and New England. It is now 
more than four years since I observed any frost at my place on Sarasota 
bay, or the thermometer below 38, and I think that has been the case only 
on one morning. It has been forty several times during four years and 
somewhere about forty-five three or four times during each winter. The 
early part of the year is usually dry and almost continuously pleasant, and 
just right as to temperature. About the first of July the weather begins to 
be showery and becomes hot. The thermometer rarely rises above ninety, 
but then it rarely falls below eighty, and until about the first of October 
this condition of things continues. But even during our summer months, 
to a man who can afford to desist from labor, the climate is quite as agree- 
able as the summer of the North. As to the question whether a white man 
can labor out of doors in a South Florida summer, I can only answer that 
I have labored consecutiTely and severely for the last fourteen summers at 
almost every kind of out-door work. And farm labor is not less essential 
here in the summer than elsewhere. There are only about one hundred 
blacks in Manatee coimty, and it would be absurd to suppose that they do 
all the summer work for the county. But the value of the climate consists 
in this : That crops may be produced the whole year round. 

Now let us look at the question of soil. We have some rich lands in 
our county — as fertile as can be found anywhere. One tract on the Man- 
atee river comprises not less tlian 6,000 acres, and there is a large body 
equally fertile on tke opposite or south side of the river. Smaller ham- 
mocks and rich bay-heacis are scattered over the county everywhere. The 
keys or islands lining the shores often have good land, and always a climate 
free from frost. But if Manatee county consisted of rich alluvial soil like 
the rich valleys of the North, it would be so unhealthy that all its fertility 
would be useless. But most of the soil is naturally poor, though of differ- 
ent grades, from good high and rolling, all the way through flat dry and 
flat wet to shallow ponds, deep ponds and sloughs, hundreds of thousands 
of acres of prairies and some river bottoms. The high, I'olling pine woods 
make the best orange land, but the flat woods make the best farms, for 
while we suffer from two extremes, wet and dry, we sufl'er most from tlie 
extreme of too dry, and it is then that the flatwoods show their superiority. 
The praii-ie lands appear fertile but they have not yet been tried. I be- 
lieve they are some of our very best lands. 

Suppose a stranger comes in from the North or West and buys a tract 
of pine woods or prairie. He must first decide upon his house. A palmetto- 
leaf hut is the cheapest and every way the meanest. Then comes the log- 
house, which is cheap if not altogether comfortable. On the coast the con- 
crete house may be built by the most unskilled labor, and when completed 
is a wholly coaafortable and not expensive house. Lumber is worth about 
$16 per thousand feet at the saw-mills. His chimney, and erery house 
needs one for comfort in winter, is made away from the coast of sticks plas- 
tered with clay ; on the coast of rock laid in mortar. His cheapest fence 
will be plain No. 11 galvanized wire ; two strands will keep out cattle. 



154 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Produotions. 



Posts should be ten feet apart, of lightwood, and will not cost much. A 
ditch should he dug around the fence and the earth thrown under the wires, 
and then a log laid along the ridge. This completes the fence and makes 
a hog and cattle-proof fence. The ditch keeps off fire, and with a suitable 
outlet keeps off water from adjacent overflowing lands. Why not use rails ? 
Because near the coast the pines will not split, and the pines of the inte- 
rior will not last as rails more than five years. The fence I have described 
can be built at a cost not to exceed fifty cents a rod. Then comes clearing. 
To clear away the palmetto will not cost over $10 per acre ; much land can 
be cleared for half that. Tlie trees are simply deadened, and the land in 
August planted to sweet-potatoes and partly in cow-peas. These last are 
to be turned under before they die in November or December and in Februarj^ 
planted to sweet-potatoes. This is the great renovating crop. All weeds 
and grasses are '* listed in " with the hoe and plow into the ridges, and 
sweet-potatoes planted anywhere from August till November, and dug when 
the proprietor sees fit. He digs them only when they are wanted. 

The settler should lose no time in providing himself with pigs, and 
even if he has to buy corn to feed them they will pay in the manure they 
will manufacture. There are other sources of garden manure that will sug- 
gest themselves to the economical and tidy housekeeper, that, for the sake of 
health and exemption from house-fiies, should not be neglected. There are 
times when fastidiousness " o'releaps itself" There is also a manure manu- 
factured from the wastes of the fisheries that is valuable. 

But the great source of manure in Florida is now and always will be 
muck from the sea coast or ponds. There are various waj-s of preparing 
it. My method is by heat. Make a pile of lightwood and cover it with 
muck, except a breathing hole in the top. Heat it like a coal-pit or tar- 
kiln. When the wood is burned up the muck will be converted into ma- 
nure. 

But with all this labor of manure-making can he also make money ? 
By gardening, if near transportation, 3^es. Manatee county is beginning to 
show her ability to furnish the North with early vegetables The business 
has hardly begun. So far the North has refused to buy our sweet-potatoes, 
which are so much superior to those they are accustomed to, and at the 
same time so diff'erent that they need to learn to eat them under a new 
name perhaps. A little well-directed effort will remove this prejudice, and 
if once removed a new and immense source of revenue will be opened up 
to us. 

It will be noticed that I have said nothing of the orange or its kindred. 
I have done so because I have been addressing plain people. Only a capi- 
talist can afford to create an orange or lime grove. The plain farmer will 
gradually produce one. It will be to him a branch of his farming instead of 
his sole employment, and considered in this light it will pay. Nor have I 
alluded to the banana. The stranger can have but slight conception of the 
luxuriance of growth and magnitude of yield of this plant. The most 
profitable kind, the African, is best cultivated in rich ponds, bedded up 
high and drained. As the herbaceous tree produces a bunch and the bunch 
ripens, the tree dies ; but man}' shoots spring up to take its place. These, 
except one, can be transplanted, and before a j^ear they will bear. I have 
seen four hundred bananas on a single shoot at one time, and the shoots 
need not be over ten feet apart. The market for these bananas is con- 
stantly increasing, but if the settler never sold one he would be the gainer for 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 155 

cultivating them, such is their value for food. The pine-apple is also attract- 
ing much attention. This plant grows best on the poorest soils, if onl}' they 
are perfectly dry. Frost is totally destructive to these plants as well as the 
guava, which is our apple and peach. It is well to look closely into the 
claims of those Northern land-sellers who claim to produce these strictly 
tropical plants where the thermometer goes to thirty-two or below every 
winter. 

MARIOI^ COUJS'TY. 

Area, 1 ,680 square miles, or 1,075,200 acres. Population in 1850, 3,338 ; 
in 1860, 8,609; in 1870, 10,804; in 1880, 13,046. Number of schools, 52; 
school land, 16,652 acres ; children of school age, 4,500— white, 1,426 ; col- 
ored, 3,074; school attendance, 2,177. Acres of improved land, 30,104; 
horses and mules, 2,033 ; cattle, 18,712; sheep, 2,631; hogs, 8,278. As- 
sessed value of property in 1881, $1,514,260. 

To Mr. McQueen Auld, of Ocala, we are indebted for the following, 
from Marion : 

Marion, the " Blue Grass " county of Florida, that is, it occupies the 
same relation to this State that the Blue Grass region of Kentucky does to 
that State, is one of the largest as well as one of the most fertile and pro- 
ductive counties in the State, especially in Sea Island Cotton and sugar- 
cane. 

The lands are generally elevated and undulating, drained both to 
Ocean and Gulf, producing fine corn, oats, potatoes, rice, Guinea and other 
grasses, millet, pinders and all kinds of vegetables. Many of the pine 
lands are very fine, being underlaid with cla}", marl and limestone. 

The hammocks are the richest and most extensive in the State. There 
is a solid body of beautiful undulating lands extending from Ocala south, 
three to seven miles wide and eighteen long, terminating near Whitesville, 
a rai^idly growing place, that in mau}'^ respects will equal the famed lands 
of the Mississippi in productiveness. Equally as fiue lands lie north of 
Ocala, in the Sugar, Wetumka, Fort Drane and Tuskawilla Hammocks, 
and in the western portion, bordering on the Withlacoochee and embraced 
between that river and Ocala, is an extensive scope of country containing 
remarkably fine hammock and pine laads ; and in that section is the beau- 
tiful " Blue Spring," second only to Silver Spring, and very much the same 
character. 

In the east, on both sides of Silver Spring run to its junction 
with the Ocklawaha, a distance of nine miles, are very rich, heavy ham- 
mocks, upon which are found large wild and cultivated orange groves ; and 
thence down the Ocklawaha, on both sides, are very fine hammock lauds, 
extending to Orange Creek, the eastern boundary of the county, near which 
is the famous Orange Spring, remarkable for its health-giving and invigor- 
ating waters. 

In this neighborhood is as fine and extensive an orange grove as there 
is in the county, growing upon what is known as second-class pine laud, 
thus demonstrating the adaptability of both the pine and hammock lands 
of this section to the orange and its kindred fruits. 

Native and cultivated grasses are luxuriant, and as fine milk and butter 
can be made here as auj-where in the United States. Cattle, hogs, sheep 
and poultry do well. 



156 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



Sandstone for building purposes is abundant, and we have one of the 
finest timber regions in the South, both for quality and variety. 

The Ocklawaha, a tributary of the St. Johns river, navigated by daily 
steamers, runs north across the centre of the county. 

Lakes Chuchhill and Bryant in the eastern, and the beautiful Lake 
Weir in the southern part of the county, are among its most attractive 
features. 

The celebrated Silver Spring forms a basin of two or three acres in 
extent near the centre of the county ; it pours forth a volume of water, 
from one to two hundred feet wide, discharging into the Ocklawaha. Blue 
Spring, almost as remarkable, and not much inferior in size, lies in the 
southwestern portion of the county, and sends forth a stream of clear, blue 
water into the Withlacoochie river, some twenty miles from the Gulf. Sul- 
phur Springs are numerous ; the most noted is known as Orange Spring, 
in the northeastern portion of the county, which was formally a great re- 
sort for invalids. Orange Lake, celebrated for the large orange groves on 
its borders, which are the most extensive of any in the State, occupying an 
area of over 1,000 acres, lies in the northern portion of the county, and is 
now connected by the Peninsular Railroad with the Atlantic, Gulf and 
West India Transit Railway at Waldo. 

Ocala, the county seat, situated six miles from Silver Spring, is a town 
of fifteen hundred inhabitants, and growing very rapidly ; it is a fine busi- 
ness place, being somewhat of a distributing point for the Southern coun- 
ties. The " Peninsular Railroad " runs through it, and is being rapidly 
pushed south to Tampa and Charlotte Harbor, on the Gulf of Mexico ; also 
the " Florida Southern," from Palatka and Gainesville, has reached Ocala, 
and is to be extended to Leesburg and Sanford. There is also a prospect 
of a branch of it from there to Brooks ville and Tampa. 

No portion of the State, or of the South, offers better inducements for 
permanent location, or is better adapted to orange-growing, as is demon- 
strated by the fact that the largest natural groves in the State are in this 
county, as are also some of the finest cultivated groves, one of which just 
coming into bearing having recently sold for one thousand dollars per acre. 

Vegetable growing is also becoming one of our most extensive and 
profitable industries, and considerable attention is being given to the cul- 
ture of grapes, figs, LeConte pears, and Chinese and other peaches, for 
which our soil seems peculiarly adapted. 

While we thus set forth our own claims and advantages, we would say 
no word in disparagement of those of our sister counties, but are proud to 
be among the richly favored portions that go to make up a State that is 
looming into remarkable prominence, and in the contemplation of the pes- 
sibilities of whose future the imagination wearies in its flight. 

MONROE COUNTY. 

Area, 3,600 square miles or 1,664,000 acres. Population in 1830, 511 ; 
in 1840, 688 ; in 1850, 2,645 ; in 1860, 2,913 ; in 1870, 5,657 ; in 1880, 10,940. 
Public schools, 5 ; school land unsold, 1,086, (only a portion surveyed) ; 
of school age, 4,002; white, 2,723; colored, 1,279; school attendance, 
1,168. Horses and mules, 116; cattle, 24,740. Assessed value of prop- 
erty, $1,286,225. 

Through a committee composed of Captain Hendry, Colonel Perkins, 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 15t 

Mr, Parker and Mr. CuUen B. Seals, of Myers, "we have obtained the fol- 
lowing paper : 

This interesting portion of the extreme peninsula of Florida, except 
the City of Key West, is as obscure and little known as any part of the 
Southern States. It embraces an extensive territory, over about half of 
which Uncle Sam's surveyor's chain has never been stretched. It is large 
enough to form a small State. It has a seacoaet of one hundred and fifty 
miles, extending to Cape Sable, then following a long chain of ke^^s and 
islands down to Key West, the whole lying between latitudes twenty-five 
and twenty-seven. 

It partakes more of a tropical character than that of any part of the 
United States. It is truly the " Land of Flowers." There is a doubt if 
any place on the earth possesses a more salubrious and genial climate than 
can be found within Monroe county. Along the northern border of the 
county light frosts are sometimes seen, but the entire southern part of the 
count}^ is free from frost, while the whole county may be considered free 
from killing frost and the extremes of heat and cold, the average tempera- 
ture being about sixty -eight. The average rainfall is about fifty -five inches, 
three-fourths of this falling between April and October, which is the rainy 
season. The winter months in Moni-oe county are comparatively drj'^ and 
bracing. Indeed, the winter seasons offer such delightful and healthful 
weather that it is surprising that thousands of Northern visitors do not come 
to this favored clime — this valle}' of Cashmere. 

No country in the world is blessed with greater natural advantages of 
navigation. Along its entire seacoast there is a complete chain of inlets 
and harbors. The port of Key West is unsurpassed b}^ any on the Gulf 
and is thronged every day in the week by first-class steamers and sailing 
vessels plying between New York, New Orleans, Havana and other points. 
Punta Rassa, which is situated at the mouth of the Caloosahatchie 
river, is second in importance and is the principal shipping port for the 
immense herds of beef cattle raised in South FloVida and transported to 
the Cuban markets. 

The Caloosahatchie river is the principal one in Monroe county, and one 
of the most beautiful in the State, Its source is the great Lake Okeechobee, 
and il flows westerly about sixty miles across the northern border of the 
county, emptying into the Gulf at Punta Rassa, just below Charlotte Har- 
bor. Its channel does not entirely connect with Olvcechobee ; it is fed and 
supported by the waters of the lake through the saw-grass. The river at its 
moutli is about two miles wide, retaining its width for thirt}^ miles, with 
six feet of water at low tide, and then begins to narrow and deepen until 
it reaches nearl}^ to Okeechobee, where the channel is obstructed by saw- 
grass. The river has a fall of twenty-five feet from lake to ocean. 

This is evidentlj'- the route intended by nature for a sliip canal. Great 
confidence is expressed in the practicability of constructing such a canal for 
the two-fold purpose of drainage and transportation. The Okeechobee 
Drainage Company has already taken advantage of the same. This route 
aff"ords greater natural advantages than any other. The Caloosahatchie 
cuts half the distance with a depth of twent^^ feet for half its length. A 
few miles of dredging would connect Okeechobee, the great reservoir of 
water, covering an area of 1,200 square miles, inexhaustible in itself and 
sufficient to feed a canal of any magnitude. Then a cut of twenty-six 



158 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions 

miles and the Atlantic is reached. This canal when completed will con- 
summate the grandest enterprise in the South, reclaiming 12,000,000 acres 
of the richest land in the world and in the tropics. 

The United States mail steamers touch at Punta Rassa four times a 
week, connecting with the Caloosahatchie mail steamei*s for points in the 
interior. 

The beautiful and extensive Charlotte harbor is in Monroe county. 
Useppa, one of the most fertile, picturesque and romantic of islands is also 
there. Charlotte harbor is the objective point of several railways passixjg 
down the peninsula. The population of Monroe county is 10,940. Key 
West is a busy and thriving city of 9,890, having 62 cigar manufactories 
having 3,600 operatives, creating a Government revenue of $250,000. 
Sponging and fishing is a source of great revenue to the people. No city 
in the South possesses a more intelligent and hospitable people than Key 
West. There are in that delightful province of the sun the most beautiful 
gardens adorned with all the fruits and flowers of the tropics. 

The tall cocoanut trees, with their feathery leaves, the Royal Palm, 
and the date, with their beautiful foliage, lend enchantment to the ti'opic 
landscape. The visitor is forcibly impressed with the attractive appearance 
of the romantic and comfortable residences. When approaching the pano- 
rama presented is indeed charming to the view — the multitude of shipping 
in the harbor, the busy wharves, the vari-colored houses, the towers and 
cupolas, the gay and happy people, working, pleasuring, or bathing in the 
warm sea waves, the delightful climate, the ever-pi'esent spring-time, all 
court the admiration of visitors. While too much cannot be said of the 
many attractions of this bright little isle of the sea, a residence here soon 
gives renewed health and strength to the pulmonary invalid. There are 
about 2,000 fruit-growers and gardeners scattered over the islands and 
mainland, with about 100 Seminole Indians in the vicinity of " Big Cypress," 
who adhere to the primitive habits of their forefathers. Surrounded by an 
abundance of game and fish of all varieties, they seem to have no desire to 
change their mode of life. The settlers of the islands are industrious and 
happy, the lands are inexhaustivel}'^ fertile, and all those engaged in winter 
gardening for the Northern markets are realizing the most happy results. 
Captain Collier, on the Island of Marco, made %3,000 on cabbages in one 
season, from the work of two hands. Mr. Cannon, on another island, made 
$1,100 from an acre in tomatoes, by himself. All those engaged in the cul- 
ture of pine-apples and bananas are making large profits. Largo and many 
adjacent islands are literally covered with piue-ayjple and banana fields, 
with a considerable number of orange, lime and citron groves, filling the 
air with aromatic fragrance. It is estimated that 100,000 cocoanut trees 
have been planted within the county in the last two years. The culture of 
this fruit yields large profits, and there are plenty of lands inviting the 
planter. 

The inhabitants of the main land are engaged in farming and stock- 
raising. On Twelve Mile Creek, a tributary of the Caloosahatchie, is the 
largest agricultural settlement. The settlers are also planting extensive 
orange, banana and lemon groves, but the principal crop is sugai'-cane. 
Messrs. Frierson, Blount, Hough, Wilson, Townsend and Clay are engaged 
in this culture, for which this county is best adapted on account of the long, 
wet season, which is not at all prejudicial to this plant. Mr. Hough has 
in one field over forty acres of rich land in cane, and a finer or more flour- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 159 

ishing crop cannot be grown anywhere upon any soil. There is perhaps no 
locality in the United States where cane can be grown with more profit, 
and there is little doubt but that in the near future Cuba and Louisiana 
will yield the palm to the Florida Peninsula for the superiority of its sugar 
and syrup, and if half of our reasonable hopes are realized ere many years 
Florida will produce all the sugar required in the United States, with a large 
surplus for export, for it is a well-founded estimate that the Okeechobee 
Drainage Company will develop 12,000,000 acres of marsh which can be 
used in this industry, besides millions of acres now ready for occupation 
and tilth of the settler. The lands not suited to cane, rice and other staples 
are eminently adapted to the stock grazing business in its natural state, but 
when set with Para grass, one of the most nutritious pasture plants known, 
they will be superior pasture lands to any in our county. It may be re- 
marked that excellent qualities of Para grass have been distinctly ascer- 
tained by Captain P. A. Hendry, of Myers, in this county, who is the 
largest cattle owner in Florida. There are many plantations on the Caloo- 
sahatchie, principally of cane. Some of the planters are engaged in winter 
gardening with success ; others in tropic fruits, among whom Dr. Kellum 
and Major James McKinley are prominent. Major McKinley has demon- 
strated that the main land is better adapted, if possible, to pine-apples than 
the island, because of the almost entire absence of I'ock and stone in the 
soil. Dr. Kellum has paid much care to the culture of the mango and 
other strictly tropic fruits, with which he has been eminently successful. 

Myers is the largest village in the county, situated on the Caloosa- 
hatchie river, twenty miles from its mouth, on a beautiful and commanding 
plateau on the left bank of the river, which is one and a quarter miles wide. 
It offers a very attractive welcome to immigrants and visitors. Cocoanut 
groves may be seen here in full bearing. The date, the pine-apple, the alli- 
gator pear, mango, many varieties of the banana, and many other fruits 
and plants are seen here in full luxuriance, while the whole village is an 
orange grove, yielding as fine fruit as can be found in the world. Like 
Key West, Myers is famous for its hospitality ; its doors are ever open to 
the stranger with a warm welcome. Myers boasts of five stores, one doc- 
tor, (who has a poor practice,) one lawyer, (briefless,) a thriving school, a 
beautiful church, (M. E ,) and a Sunday school with sixt>' scholars. It 
may be I'emarked of Myers, there has never been a conviction for crime, 
there is little drunkenness or violence, no gambling, and for its population 
(300) is the most quiet, moral and peaceable towji in America. It is not in- 
corporated. 

It may be enquired why, (if so good for many things,) has this section 
not been settled before, and its rich resources been developed ? It is obvi- 
ous from history. This section was hotly contested by the Indians, who 
have held it to the exclusion of the settlers until within a few years since, 
when they were removed, except the remnant (100) before mentioned. 
The world has been ignorant of its resources, its soil, its delightful climate, 
and in the absence of official information, it was su|>posed to bea continnois 
tract of malarious or pestilential marsh, and is only just becoming known to 
the public. The absence of transportation has forbidden exploration and 
settlement ; but now a brighter future dawns upon this favored land, so 
blessed with soil and climate, "where all the glorious children of his beam, 
dowerets and fruit-, blush on erery stream," and will rtsmain no longer " un- 
honored and unknown." Sutfering humanity may have a home where an 



160 Florida — Its Glimate, Soil and Productions. 

" eternal spring-time, with its genial air, will give back the lost vigor and 
a new lease upon life." " Come, and live." This county offers every in- 
ducement alike to the good right arm, and the suffering invalid. 

" W. S. A.," writes in a Key West newspaper : " In 1870, when I vis- 
ited Fort Myers to take the census, Mrs. W. S. Clay told me ' there had 
been no deaths during the five years she had lived there.' Following the 
coast by the Islands of Charlotte Harbor, so on down the coast, to Key 
Largo, and thence to Key West, I found on the whole route no family in 
which a death had occurred during the previous year," in 1880. Captain 
John F. Hoar, census taker, reported officially, that in thq last sixty -eight 
families visited by him, on the islands and mainland, he found no death to 
have occurred during the previous year. He found a family at Fort Myers 
that had lost two children during the severe rains of September and October 
1879. When only two deaths are reported per annum in a population of 97t 
I think this may truly be called a healthy country. 

It is important to state that this country is evidently the habitat of the 
sugar-cane, which attains here its highest perfection. The writer is assured 
that sugar was made from cane which had been planted several years, 
proving it almost a perennial plant in this country. This circumstance is 
well known to a number of citizens, and Mr. Hough made up in June several 
acres that he was unable to do the previous winter by reason of the acci- 
dental burning of his mill, and found no perceptible difference in the yield, 
showing that it does not injure by standing after maturity. And sugar 
was made on the adjoining farm from cane which had been planted eight 
years, proving it to be almost a perennial plant and this county its habitat. 
And it may be said that this count}^ is equally well adapted to the cultiva- 
tion of many other productions, viz : rice, which gives large profits, and po- 
tatoes yield with fair treatment 300 bushels per acre, and all the garden 
plant grow in perfection here ; the best season is the winter for gardening. 
All the tropic plants and fruits grow in luxuriance. Special attention is 
called to the Sisal hemp. Indigo and Cffisar-weed, a wonderful fibrous 
plant, and many other indigenous plants that our limited space prevents 
description of. Cane will pay $100 net per acre. 

This is a good cattle country. There are 40, 000. head of cattle now in 
Monroe ; 25,000 were shipped from Key West last year. 

NASSAU COUNTY. 

Area, 640 square miles; 499,600 acres. Population in 1830, 1,511 ; in 
1840, 1,892 ; in 1850, 2,164 ; in 1860, 3,644 ; in 1870, 4,247 ; in 1880, 6,635. 
Public schools, 38; school lands unsold, 5,079 acres; school age, 2,366; 
white, 1,153; colored, 1,213. Improved acres of land, 3,082. Horses and 
mules, 562 ; cattle, 7,849 ; sheep, 1,556 ; hogs, 3,055. Assessed value of 
property in 1881, $1,048,078. 

Position. — This county occupies the extreme northeast corner of the 
State, being bounded on the north and west by the St. Marys river, the 
boundary line between Florida and Georgia, on the east by the Atlantic 
ocean and on the south by Duval county. 

Soil. — It embraces almost every variety of soil, including sandy loam 
underlaid with clay, hammock and the usual flat pine woods. 



Florida — //.s Climate^ Soil and Prodtictions. IQI 



Woods. — The foi-est growth also embraces a great varii^ty, incliKHjig 
pine, hickory, palmetto, water and live-oak. 

Agrici LTiRAL PiRsriTsi.T-Cotton, corn and oats are the principal 
productions of the interior, while the lands near the lines of transportation 
are largely employed in the raising of early vegetables and fruit for the 
Northern markets. Of tliis more will be said in connection with F'er- 
nandina. 

MANUt'ACTURES. — Lumber, turpentine, resin, bricks and j^aj^er pu!]iare 
the })rincipal articles manufactured. 

Transportation. — It is particularly favored in this respect, as besidei< 
the St. xMarys river, a bold and deep stream, and tiie Nassau river, with its 
numerous tributaries, it is traversed by four broad-gauge railroads, mote 
than any other county in the State, and will soon add a fifth to this by the 
completion of the extension of the East Tennessee. Virginia and Georgia 
Kailroad system. 

From New York to Fenunuliiia. all rail *. 881.0*1 

Fi'om New York to Feniuiuliiia by sea. via Sav;inn;i!i i^J.Oft 

}"'ioi)i New York to Ft'iiiaiidiua by sea diire't :21..~iO 

From New York to Feiii:u\(liiia. by sea vi:i Savannali. steerage .... !"?.0<* 

From Xew York to Feriiaiulina by sea direct 1 1 .(H> 

From Cincinnati to Fernandina. all rail, first-class •J.'i.W 

Fi-om C incinnati to Fernandina. ei'iij^rant rate. 3^ cents per mile 

From C'liicaj>o to Fernandina. tirst-class :5o.:!5 

From t'liicago to Fernan<lina. second-class 38. ^H 

Fiom Xew <)rleans to Fernandina. !t>-.st-class rail '2'-]A() 

From Xew Orleans t.(> Fernandina. tirst-class via Cedar Keys 2\.-)i) 

F]-om Xew Orleans to I'^'rnandiua. steera.ne l.l.O*! 

Price of L.vnu. — Improved lantl can be bought at from $5 to $iO \,ev 
acre; unimproved farm land at from $1 to $5, while land which can be used 
first for the manufacture of turpentine, and afterward for that of lumber, 
could be bought at from 80 cents to $3 per acre. As this last is so largely 
manufactured, and throughout the county it can be obtained for building 
purposes cheaply, the price at the mill averaging about $12 per thousand 
feet. The following list of prices at Fernandina may be ot use to the 
farmer : Horses, $100 to $150 ; mules, $75 to $175 ; two-wheel carts, $00 ; 
wagons, $35 ; plows, $4 to $4.50 ; spades, $1 to $1.25 ; hoes, 75 cents each. 

Health. — The health of the county is remarkably good, its proximity 
to the ocean being one cause. 

Schools. — The public school system extends throughout the county. 

Political Sentiment. — The political parties are very evenly balanced. 

Fer.^andina is situated at the northern end of a large island, in the ex- 
treme northeast of the county, and consequently of tlie State. The St. 
Marys and Nassau rivers here unite and through Cumberland sound ttow 
into the Atlantic ocean, forming one of the finest harbors on the coast. 
From the wharves of the city to the sea the distance is only about three 
miles, requiring very little or no towage for sail vessels, while the anchorage 
is perfectly land-locked and ample for the navies of the world. When the 
improvements now in progress by the government are completed ves.sels 
drawinsT twentv-seven feet can enter. It is now not available for those over 
11 



162 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



eighteen. It is at present the principal seaport in general commerce on 
that part of the Atlantic coast. 

The railroad system terminating here goes into all parts of the State, 
while by a connection to be completed by January 23d, it will have a con- 
tinnons line through Pensacola to the roads of the Southwest and Pacific, 
by the extension of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad 
system alreaily alluded to, as well as by the East Florida Railroad already 
completed, it has access bo the North and West upon conditions which will 
enable it to compete successfully for the trade of the latter. By a railroad 
across to Cedar Keys on the Gulf of Mexico, it connects with Cuba and 
other ports of that sea, and it is the terminus of the projected barge canal, 
which has been surveyed and by which bai'ges can come through from any 
part of the country tributary to the Mississippi wharves. The commerce 
of the place already supports good lines of steamers to New York, and dur- 
ing the winter to Liverpool, and a daily line of steamboats to Savannah. 

Employment. — All kinds of the usual trades can find ready employ- 
ment hero, while the preparation of cotton-seed for shipment and of papei*- 
pulj) from the palmetto, and of lumber furnishes occupation for the un- 
skilled. 

Early Vegetables and Fruits. — This occupation is one of the easiest 
to engage in, and at the same time most profitable. It consists in raising 
such fruits aud vegetables as strawberries, watermelons, grapes, peaches, 
cucumbers, green peas, tomatoes, egg-plants, squashes and cabbages in 
adyance of the same things at the North for shipment there, where high 
prices are commanded. The net profits from an acre are sometimes as high 
as five hundred dollars per acre. The vicinity of Pernandina offers peculiar 
advantages for this culture, as it has an abundance of land well adapted to 
it and its lines of steamers enable it to deliver its products cheaper and in 
better condition than any other place where the proper advancement in 
time of ripening exists. 

Health and Climate. — The health and climate of the place may be 
judged from the fact that it is a resort both in winter and summer for 
people from all parts of the United States. A magnificent beach extending 
along the Alantic coast, said to be the finest in the world, affords a pleasant 
and healthful drive, which is one of the principal attractions. 

Society. — The society is good and embraces many nationalities 

Churches, Schools and Fraternities. — There are churches of all de- 
nominations ; schools for both sexes ; Masonic and other fraternities in 
the city. 

Price of Lots.— Lots can be bought at $200 to $600 each Building- 
material is very cheap. Houses for small families can be rented at $10 to 
$20 per month. 

The following is a list of prices of various necessaries at retail : Bacon, 
15 cents ; iiains, 18 cents ; flour $8 to $9 per barrel ; meal, $1.40 per bushel ; 
C sugar, 10 cents ; coffee, 20 cents ; butter, 25 to 85 cents ; lard, 16 cents ; 
fresh beef, 8 to 15 cents. 

ORANGE COUNTY. 

Area, 2,250 square miles or 1,440,000 acres. Population in 1830, 733 ; 
in 1840, 13 ; in 1850. 466; in 1860, 987 ; in 1870, 2,195 ; 1880.6,618. Xum- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 163 

bev of public schools, 56 ; school lands unsold, 23,339 acres ; of school age, 
l,t;75 ; white, 1,561; colored, 115; school attendance, 1,233. Acres of im- 
proved land, 11,544. Horses and mules, 945; cattle, 12,728; sheep, 50 ; 
hogs, 3,961. Assessed value of propertjMn 1881, $1,716,554. 

By the census of 1880 the mortality of the State of Florida was 
slightly in excess of 10 to 1,000 ; of Orange county 5.2 to 1,000. Nothing 
more need be said concerning the healthfulness of the county. It is becom- 
ing a resort for invalids from ail parts of the Union, and the next census 
will doubtless show a' higher death rate ; but this will be due to the above 
named cause, rather than to deaths among residents of the county. 

Orange county occupies a central position in the Peninsula of Florida. 
It lies on tlie west side of the St Johns river, which stream forms its east- 
ern and northern boundary-, affording in its sinuous course a river frontage 
<jf not far from one hundred miles in extent. The county covers a territory 
equal to sixty-five congressional townships, and embraces all varieties of 
land common to Florida. There are high and low hammocks, high, me- 
dium and flat pine, bay lands and savannas. These different qualities 'of 
soil are adapted to varied products. Fruit-growing is at present the chief 
industry of the count}^, and is engrossing the attention of the inhabitants. 
Hut vegetable-growing for the Northern markets, as well as for home con- 
sumption, is proving very profitable and bids fair to become a profitable 
industry in the near future. Large shipments of vegetables from this 
county have been made of late, and as growers can get their products into 
the large cities at a time when Northern gardeners are idle and their lands 
locked in ice and snow, our people have realized handsome prices. With a 
trunk line of railroad runnina: from this region direct to the North this 
inanch of industry will beccmie more profitable, and will receive more atten- 
tion than at present. 

Tliere are now two lines of railroad in the county, running from the 
St. Johns river into the interior. One of these, the St. Johns and Lake 
Eustis Railroad, has its initial point at Astor, on the river, and its present 
terminus at Fort Mason, on Lake Eustis. Its extension is projected, and 
the [)eople living south of the present terminus are looking to it as their 
probable future outlet. The other line is the South Florida flailroad. Its 
initial point is Sanford, on Lake Monroe, through which lake the river 
runs. It extends south through the county, and has its terminus at Kis- 
sinmice, a new town on Lake Tahoi)ekaliga. This road is about forty miles 
in length, and passes through th-e high, rolling lands of the central portion 
<jf the county. 

Orange is a county of lakes. Lake Apopka lies in the western portion 
of the county and forms the boundary between it and 8umter co>inty. 
T'his is the second largest lake in the State. Besides this, there are Lakes 
Monroe, Jessup, Harvey, Butler, Conway, Kustis, Dora, Maitlaud and 
thousands of others, covering from one acre to a thousand acres eacb. The 
lakes art; almost without exception pure water, with sandy l)ottt)mH, and 
contain choice fish in abundance. Upon these lakes are beautiful building 
sites, and well protected situations for gardens and groves. Tlie evapora- 
tion from tliese lakes, coupled with the breezes from the Gulf on one side, 
and the Ocean on the other, have a singularly modifying effect upon the 
temperature, giving almost perfect immunity from damage by frost in win- 
ter and preventing a high temperature in summer. A carefully kept record 
for upwards of two 3'ears shows that within that time the mercury has not 



164 Florida — Its GUmoJ.e, Soil and Froductions 



gone above ninety-eight in summer, with l>ut one or two exceptions, and not 
below forty in winter. The severe cold of the winter of 1880-1, was not 
sufficient to injure lemon blossoms or fruit buds. 

The fruits adapted to this county are the orange, lemon, lime, grape- 
fruit, shaddock, citron, guavas, pine-apples, bananas, strawberries and pome- 
o-ranates. These all do well, and their culture has proven satisfactory in 
all cases. Figs, peaches and plums grow here, but have not proven so sat- 
isfactory, as the 3'ield of fruit is light. Surinam cherries and LeConte 
pears are receiving attention and promise well, but have not been sufficiently 
tested as yet to prove what the}' will do. A.11 kinds of vegetables which 
can be grown in the State do well here, and are grown with good results, 
except perhaps during two or three months of the hottest part of the sum- 
mer when they display an inclinatioli to " draw *' like plants grown under 
glass. Rice, sugar-cane and cassava are also grown with profit, and here is 
a field for investment of capital which promises rich returns, and which 
cannot be overdone. We have an abundance of the choicest sugar and rice 
lands which are inviting capital to come in and take possession. Cassava 
does well. The j'ield of tubers to the acre is immense. A starch mill for 
the manufacture of starch from cassava is in successful operation in this 
county. Others are contemplated, and if the success so far attained shall 
continue, the time is at hand when starch making from cassava and arrow- 
root will be a leading feature. 

One of the unmistakable signs by which the prosperity of any region 
may be judged is the demand for real estate. The count}' recorder's books 
tell more accurately than any other source of information what is being- 
done in this direction. The evidence of progress, based upon purchases 
of land, can safely be depended upon in forming a judgment of the pro- 
oressive condition of any region. A careful examination of the records of 
Orange county for six months, from January 1 to July 1, 1882. show that 
the purchases of land reached thirty-eight thousand and forty-three acres, 
while two hundred and forty-four town lots in the various towns were pur- 
chased within that time. This is exclusive of United States patents and 
land sold by the State to the Disston Company. The considerations men- 
tioned in the deeds for these lands and lots aggregated five hundred thou- 
sand four hundred and fifty-five dollars : upwards of half a million dollars 
paid for real estate in Orange county within half a year. The greater por- 
tion of these sales were made to new comers, who have been pouring in 
from all parts of the Union. Some of the sales are to old citizens of the 
county, but ninety per cent, have been to the new element. 

Orange county is developing very rapidly. Hardly a boat comes up the 
St. Johns or a train runs into the interior, but it brings settlers from some 
other portion of the United States. Most of them have some means, a few 
may be termed wealthy, but all possess an unlimited amount of enterprise, 
while the populace, old settlers and new comers, are full of zeal, and are 
about the most enthusiastic people to be found anywhere. The county is 
by no means full ; there is plenty of room yet for thousands who are to fol- 
low. The lands were originallV entered in one hundred and sixty acre 
tracts as a rule. Some was taken in smaller lots, while in a few instances 
large bodies were entered by capitalists, either for the purpose of opening 
up large plantations or for speculation. These lands are now being mostly 
subdivided, and are purchased by the later comers in proportion to their 
means. The bulk of the purchases do not exceed forty acres, while many 



Florida — Itx Gliniate^ Soil and Produclions. 165- 



of tiiL'tii aic as small as ten and even five acres. People are rapidly learn- 
ing that whether the}' propose cultivating fruits or vegetables, small 
tracts well tille<l are vastly more profitable than larger areas indiffei'ently 
cultivated or partially neglected. The small places are the most profitable, 
anil the most satisfactory to the owners. 

With the increase of |)opulation which follows these purchases of laud, 
comes greater interest in schools, churches and social advantages, and the 
time seems to be at hand when this portion of Florida will be equal in 
these respects to an}- portion of the United States outside the cities. New 
church buildings are going up in almost every neighborhood and hamlet 
in the county, and the increasing interest in public schools, and the atten- 
tion. given to erecting houses and obtaining competent teachers, argues 
well for Orange county's future educational adv'antages. 

A feature which will strike every observant new comer is the tendency 
to well. settled communities instead of too populous towns. There are no 
large towns in the county ; small towns are numerous, and are springing 
into existence in all parts of the county. The rapid filling up the rural 
districts makes these little centres necessary. In a short space of time 
every communit}' will have its church, school-house, post-office and a store 
or two to suppl)' the needs of the people. People need no longer fear that by 
locating in Orange county they are settling in a howling wilderness out- 
side the pale of law and civilization. This county is making* rapid strides, 
communities are forming composed of families representing the culture 
and intelligence of the several sections from which they come. The pres- 
ent indications justify the belief that in a few years Orange county, Glor- 
ia, will attain a conspicuous position as a centre of wealth, intelligence 
aud refinement, and homes within her borders will be sought by the best 
people in the countr}- and in the world. 

There is absolutely no social, political, or religious intolerance in this 
county. The population is emphaticalh' and thoroughly cosmopolitan, 
^^eople of all creeds and of opposing political proclivities, from widely sep- 
i ated sections meet together on the best of social terms, and fratei-nize as 
harmoniously as though born in tlie same communit\' and educated in the 
same school. 

Palmetto hat manufactories, paper pulp manufactories, establishments 

'1- the jneparation of Spanish moss, tanneries and boot and shoe manufac- 

ries could be established to advantage. Fruit, vegetable, sugar, rice, 

; ssava and jute planters can find plenty of opportunity to employ time 

::id money to profit. Intelligent and reliable labor can find ready employ- 

^aent at good wages: unreliable laborers, laggards and statesmen are 

largely in excess of the demand. Industry is not a crime in this portion 

•f the State, and a laboring man is not dishonored. 

POLK COrXTY. 

Area, 2,UH0 square miles or l,3b<S,400 acres. Population in 1870, 3,- 

'■'9; in 1880,3,181. Number of public schools, 19; school lands unsold, 

27,229 acres ; of school age, 1,000 ; school attendance, 657. Horses and mules, 

n55 : cattle, 2.282 : sheep, 711 : hogs, 6,117. Asssessed value of property 

■p. 1880. $368,869.' 

The following paper was prepared by the Immigration Society of 



166 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 

Polk county, Florida, P. R. MeCrary, President ; Jolm R. Siioddy, Secre- 
tary, who has forwarded the same to us for publication : 

PoLK County is situated in the lower part of the State, maiuh' within 
the 28th deegree of north latitude and east of the 82d parallel of longi- 
tude. It is bounded north by Sumter and Orange counties, east by Orange 
and Brevard, south by Manatee and west by Hillsborough. It has an area 
of about 1,900 square miles. By the census of 1880, its population num- 
bered 3,036 whites and 120 blacks, making a total of 3,156. Its greatest 
elevation above the level of the sea is two hundred and thirty-five feet. 
The principal waters are the Kissimraee river, forming the eastern boundary, 
and navigable for boats at all times, and Peace creek, which Hows through 
the centre of the county, with some improvement, for which Congress has 
made an appropriation, can be made navigable the greater portion of tlie 
year. Aside from these streams, we have in the northern and eastern por- 
tion of the count}', a great number of beautiful lakes, varying from an area 
of fifty to five thousand acres, with inviting locations around them, and 
abounding with fish of the finest flavor. 

The lands here are of two kinds —hammock and pine. The face of 
the country appears level, yet it is undulating enough t© secure ample 
drainage to most of the lands. Therefore, the greater portion of the lands 
are dry enough for cultivation. Still, as in most States, there is a reason- 
able amount of wet land, which the pioneer settlers pass by as worthless, 
and like the low lands of older States is destined to prove the best, though 
last taken. The hammock lands are much of the same nature, and clothed 
with the same growth as the alluvial bottom lands along the more northern 
rivers ; and while they are highl}^ productive for grain and vegetables, yet the 
dry and rolling pine lands, of which this county has a superior (juality, are 
considered best for resident liomes and fruit-growing purposes. 

The staple products are, first, corn, which is produced at tlie rate of 
from ten to thirty bushels per acre ; cotton, long staple, which yields from 
two hundred to a thousand pounds to the acre ; sweet-potatoes, which, on 
unfertilized land, will yield two hundred bushels. By cow-penning the land, 
which is generally done for this crop, it will produce as high as from four to 
five hundred. Rice is as yet but little cultivated, and requires a very fer- 
tile soil, but yields from thirty to sixty bushels to the acre. Sugar-cane, 
which depends much upon the quality of the land, will produce from eiglit 
hundred to two thousand pounds per acre. Also, the field pea is raised 
here in great abundance, the seasons admitting two crops a year. It is 
used for pasture, green-soiling, long forage, fattening hogs, feeding poultr}^ 
and various purposes. 

This portion of the State has been settled sparsely by cattle-growers 
for more than thirt\' years, which, on account of its fertile soil, produced 
the best of grazing, and was used almost exclusivel}' for raising vast herds 
of cattle. And it was not until Florida began to attract attention as a 
tropical fruit-growing countrj- that Polk county began to be settled and 
used for other purposes, and now most of our well-to-do farmers have from 
fifty to five hundred head of cattle grazing about their homes, while many 
of the more wealthy ones have large herds in the unsettled regions south ot 
here. This makes our principal export, beef cattle, which is sold altogether 
in the Cuban market. Our next valuable export is oranges, which is be- 
ginning to be a heavy and valuable source of income, and increasing annu- 



Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 16*7 



ally at a four-fold rate. Considerable sugar and syrup is sent to the North- 
ern markets, and as soon as we get quick transportation the raising and 
shipping of early vegetables will become a staple business with our people. 
The latitude of our county being so far south that we never have snow and 
ice, and some winters not even frost, we can plant our gardens in the fall 
and have growing vegetables the entire winter. Most of the staple vege- 
tables raised in the State grow here most luxuriantl^y. 

The lack of transportation has been, and is now, the great drawback 
to our prosperity ; but at this time our prospects for railroads are de- 
cidedly flattering. Three railways destined to cross this county are now under 
contruction, all of which will he completed to this county in from one to 
three years. At present our nearest point of shipment is Tampa, on the 
Gulf coast, some forty miles from the central portion of the county. The 
wagon freight is one dollar per hundred. Until lately the most' of our 
lands were open to entr3\ the general government lands to homestead at 
the rate of fourteen dollars to the quarter section, ^and the State lands to 
purchase at from one dollar per acre down to seventy cents, depending on 
the amount taken. But of late large quantities of land have been taken up 
by speculators, and railroad corporations that had received grants have 
made extensive selections in our county. Also, the celebrated purchase by 
Mr. Disston, of four million acres from the State, has much of it located 
in folk county, which lands will be for sale upon the same or perhaps bet- 
ter terms than the State ottered. But still the public lands are b}' no means 
exhausted. The northern and eastern portion of our county, abounding 
in rolling pine lands and beautiful lakes, is still almost an unbroken wil- 
derness, inviting the enterprising pioneer to the choice selections of the 
public domain. True, near the towns, and in deiise settlements, where the 
public lands are all taken up, unimproved land sells for from five to ten 
dollars per acre. 

On account of the mildness of our winters in this portion of the State, 
we can raise a great variet}' of tropical fruits. Not only the orange, but 
* the lemon, lime, guava, and pineapple can be produced here to profit. Polk 
county is equal if not superior to any portion of t!ie State for the produc- 
tion of the orange. The fertility of the soil supersedes the necessity of ex- 
pensive fertilizers, leaving the trees to flourish under the process of plow- 
ing and pruning onl}', which is all the cultivation they require. 
Also on account of the short and mild winters, they grow longer during 
the year than in colder regions, and come to bearing much sooner. The 
heafth of our count}' is good ; some seasons we have slight touches of chills 
and fever, with occasionall}' a case of pneumonia, and once in a great while 
a case of typhoid fever. As evidence of the health of the county, most 
of the county offices have income enough to give the incumbents a sup- 
port, while the probate office does not pay over a hundred dollars a year. 
Also Dr. C. L. Mitchell was till quite recently the only practicing physician 
of the county, and did all the practice for a scope of country forty miles 
square. Our climate is highly congenial to weak lungs, and consumption 
not too far advanced, is in most cases relieved and in many permanently 
cured. Having referred to the mildness of our winters, we would state 
that the further down the peninsula of Florida the cooler the summer, on 
account of the sea breezes from both east and west. During the gr.^at heat 
pressure all over the continent during tlie past summer, the temperature 
was never so hiuh b\- several degrees as it was in the States north ; the 



168 Florida — It^ Cliinate, Soil and Productions. 



aights here are nearly always cool, clear and pleasant ; there are no storms 
ill South Florida of any consequence, except the equinoctial storm, which 
does greater damage by its heavy rain fall than by the accompanying 
winds. At certain localities along the coast and near large bodies of wa- 
ter, the mosquitoes and other insect pests are quite annoying ; but up in 
the interior we have no troubles of that kind. As evidence of that fact we 
have no use for mosquito bars in Polk county. We have some thirty or- 
ganized schools in this county, most of them are on the pioneer style ; how- 
ever, we have some good schools, where the advanced branches are taught. 
■ Our people here being from all the different parts of the Union, by mu- 
tual interest take a pride not only in religious tolerance, but in leaving off 
all the deep political bitterness and old war prejudices that have proved 
so detrimental to societ}^ in other localities. Here the entire population 
appear kind, generous and obliging, and are alive to the cause of educa- 
tion, morals and piety. The Missionary and Primitive Baptists, M. E. 
Church South, and Congregational Methodists all have ministers here and 
scattering numbers of other denominations. We have several Sabbath 
schools, two literary societies, but no dram >ihop in fhe counhj. and a strin- 
gent law regulating drug stores. 

As the costs of living and making homes in a new country are im- 
portant items with home seekers, we here give the prices of a few staple 
articles: Flour, $10 per barrel; bacon. Western, 12 to 1.5 cents per pound : 
corn, $1.00 per bushel ; sugar, fi cents per pound; syrup, .55 cents per gal- 
lon : sweet potatoes, 35 cents per bushel ; lumber, $12 per thousand ; mak- 
ing rails, $1.00 per hundred'; cabin boards, $2.50 ])er thousand ; clearing 
lands (pine), from $3 to $5 per acre ; hammock, from $10 to $15 ; com- 
mon labor, from $12 to $15 per month. 

Owing to a general change in our mail routes and hack lines in this 
part of the State we are not prepared at this time to give the best route to 
come to Polk count\% but would advise all persons desirous of coming to 
consult us b}^ mail before starting, and by tiiat time there will be a hack 
line running to the nearest terminus of the three approaching railroads, 
and we can give a direct way bill. 

Emigrants, for further information, are refen-e(jjto tlie following per-" 
sons, whose post-oftice address is given opposite their names : P, R. Mc- 
Creary, Epps Tucker, at Medulla; John Snoddy, W. B. Varn, at Bartow ; 
Fred. N. Varn, S. W. Carson and Gr. W. Hendry, at Fort Meade. 

put:n"am coukty. 

Area, 860 square miles or 550,400 acres. Population in 1850, 68T ; in 
1860.2,712; in 1870, 3,821; in 1880, 6,261. Number of public schools, 
40; school lands unsold, 5,914 aci'es ; of school age, 2,466; whites, 1,550 ; 
colored, 916 ; school attendance, 926. Acres of improved land, 6,415. 
Horses, and mules, 904; cattle, 5,859; sheep, 56; hogs. 2,498. Assessed 
value of property in 1881, $1,208,318. 

We append a paper prepared for the Pamphlet by Mr. C. V. Hutchins, 
of Lake Como : 

Fruitland Peninsula occupies the southernmost portion of Putnam 
county, 125 miles south of the mouth of the St. Johns, its western bound- 
ary l>eing the broad waters of that river, its eastern Lake Crescent and 



Florida — //,s Climate^ Soil and Productions. 169 



Deep river. The space between is about twenty miles in length and 31.58 
miles in breadth, giving a superficial area of about 100 square miles. 
Lying in latitude averaging 2vl degrees, 30 minutes, and protected west 
and east b}^ large navigable bodies of water which unite at its north 
extremit}^, and swept by the trade winds from old ocean but twentj' miles 
away, or returning from the Gulf of Mexico, this Peninsula has the 
semi-t7'opical climate indicated by such a position and environment. 

Principal villages, &c., are V/elaka, Mt. Ixoyal, Lake George and Dray- 
ton Island. Georgetown and Seville landings, a few miles apart, along the 
St. Johns river. Crescent City, Port Como and Pomona landings along Ijake 
Crescent and Lake Como. Crystal Lake, Pomona and Fruitland along 
the elevated central plateaus or highlands. These villages or orange- 
growing communities have each a school, one or more churches, black- 
smithing and other shops, stores and post-office. Though owing to the 
small population as yet, these privileges are not in variety or extent what 
they must soon become. There are three or four saw mills in ditferent 
parts of this section, at which lumber can be had of memorandum sizes at 
$10 to $12 per M. 

Along the boundaries the soil is quite generally of rich, high and low 
hammock, with forests of cypress, magnolia, hickory, oaks, &c., in variety 
outrumiing description. Formerly in Indian, Spanish, French and English 
times wild orange groves were to be found at many points, both on the bor- 
ders and among the highlands of this Peninsula. The. fact is noteioorthy 
that exactly in the latitude of this Penimala are found over one- half of the 
,-jitire wild orange acreage of the State. But these wild groves have now 
I'een transformed into profitable civilized investments, and their savage 
beanty has taken on a more golden hue. 

in the interior the country is mostly covered with heavy yellow pine 
ibrest, alternating with the occasional charming and ubiquitous orange or 
lemon grove. 

The soil is as a rule like all other soils in Florida, not rich but poor, 
glowing advertisements to the contrary notwithstanding. \t consists of a 
grayish loam, (much preferable, however, to that of the vegetable-growing 
districts of New York, New Jersey and Delaware,) resting upon a yellow 
and in many instances clayey sub-soil. This soil responds little in the cul- 
tivation of the Northern staples unless fertilized with such materials and 
lo such extent as have there been found requisite. But it is admirably 
adapted to the fruits of a sub-tropical soil, plantations of which, such as 
the orange and lemon, can be raised to maturity and productiveness with 
probably more certainty and economy than in any other section of our 
Southern eountr}-. 

Statistics. — Population, J,032; bearing orange, lemon and guava 
trees, 16,979; trees set in groves but not yet bearing, lo5,047 ; orange, 
lemon and guava production, 3,036,000 ; number of groves, .523. 

These statistics tell the story how the people of Fruitland Peninsula 
are engaged in making '' one spear of grass grow where none grew before." 
The whole of this very considerable present and very large prospective 
wealth has been created (so to speak) out of the earth, almost without ex- 
ception, since the year 1870 ; and we may say nearly all since the year 
i875. We challenge comparison with any section in the United States, 
North or South, which for a corresponding population can show in the 



no Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Pi'oductiona. 



same space of time an increase of values, so generous in the present and 
laying so broad and solid a foundation for future prosperity. 

In order that the foregoing account may be fully understood it is im- 
portant to remark that while our well-matured trees bear an average of 
1,000 oranges annually, worth at present and past prices $20, the larger 
part even of our bearing trees are but advancing from 100 to 300 annually, 
the increase being from 259 to 100 per cent, each year, according to culti- 
vation. 

In view of these facts now so fully demonstrated in actual experience, 
and the solid results of which are accessible to inquiry and inspection, it 
will be better understood that General Grant while in this county uttered 
but the judgment of truth and soberness in expressing the opinion that the 
fruit production of senii-ti'opical Florida would soon outweigh in value the 
grain harvests of the greatest of the Northwestern States. 

Having thus alluded generally to what has been and is being done on 
this Peninsula, as evidence calculated to interest the careful observer, 
who, if considering the question of a settlement here, desires to place his 
capital, large or small, his intelligence and his manual strength where they 
will do him the most good, let us occupy the balance of our brief space in a 
practical consideration of the questions of ways and means in which are in- 
volved the decision : '' Shall I visit Florida ?" " Shall T take up my resi- 
dence there ?" 

We will assume that the new-comer possesses some capital, some in- 
telligence and some physical power, and discuss how these may be used in 
this section so as to enable their owner to live comfortably and healthfully 
and duly to increase in wordly possessions. 

Capital and Labor. — Investments may be made in 3'oung or in bear- 
ing orange groves. But few of the latter are for sale, but some are oljtain- 
able, and when bought with ordinary judgment are a judicious and profit- 
able investment at any reasonable price. 

Loans may be made upon real estate liere as at the North and West. 
The legal rate is 8 per cent., the ordinary paying rate 10 per cent., as is 
usual in a new country where the cash means of every one has been placed 
in permanent improvements. In all Fruitland Peninsula there is no bank 
or loan agency, indeed but one in the county, and that occupied with mer- 
cantile paper and doing a flourishing business. 

Boardinu-houses and Hotels, oflfering such inducements as are com- 
mon North, and availing of the special attractions of this section, could 
depend upon a large share of the assumed immense tourist patronage of the 
winter months. The array of liealth and pleasure-seekers who find first- 
class accommodations along the river further north would delight to visit 
the beautiful shores and orange groves of our water boundaries or along 
our interior lakes, but are offered as yet by the inadequacy of our local 
means only plantation comforts. 

A Sanitarium provided with requisites for the intelligent care and 
cure of lung and bronchial diseases, &c., and meantime furnishing a secure 
and agreeable home, with opportunities for boating, fishing, equestrianism, 
and properh' advertised North, would do an immense business. Beautiful 
sites adjacent to lakes, mineral and sulphur springs, orange plantations, 
Ac, are procurable either along the borders of the Peninsula, having 



Florida — Ita Climate, Soil and Produciion^. 171 



almost liourl3' steam communications, or in the interior higlilands distant 
but a short hour's ride from river or lake, having, like the border towns, ;% 
deep marl, and amidst the deep health-giving pine woods. 

An -Academy of high grade should be established at once, and if com- 
bined with the features of a boarding school, and possibly some of those 
just described would prove an invaluable resource to delicate children from 
the North, and would doubtless be well patronized. 

Shops for shoe-making, tinning and general mechanical work are 
greatly needed, and would be well patronized at several points. 

The Palatka and Indian River Railroad, with its terminus at Pa- 
latka, is chartered to run through the entire Peninsula, adding o-reatly to 
its conveniences. Such a road will do an immense business in lumber at 
the start, and do as well a paying business in the local trade, with a most 
valuable prospective carrying trade, as the orange plantations, already nu- 
merous, come into productiA^eness. Hence its stock and bonds will prove a 
desirable investment. 

The Cultivation of the strawberry, cabbage, green peas, cucumbers, 
and other vegetables approved by gardeners here, for the markets of Pa- 
latka and Jacksonville, where a ready sale is found ; the former, twenty 
miles, the latter one' hundred miles distant north, with daily communication. 
Large profits have been made in man}* instances. Many shipments Xorth 
have paid largely, and cultivators are extending their acreage for this sea- 
son's Northern market. 

Thr; Reclamation of the hammock lands of the borders on the lake 
shores, or of the highlands, at comparatively small expense, would with 
due cultivation and care, prove a most remunerative outlay, as it has else- 
where. 

Teachers have been in request for our public schools this season, some 
are now closed on account of this need. 

Laborers are needed all over the Peninsula, wages generally $1 per 
da}' for transient help, laborer boarding himself. Cost of living about $3 
per week, everything included. 

Manufacturers of agricultural implements, carts, ttc, or of furniture 
would be near abundant sources of their various raw materials, with trifling 
expense for rents, transportation, ifec, and while engaged in their specialties 
could establish themselves in fruit-culture. 

Manufacturers of palmetto-work, of paper, of hats and bonnets, or 
of braid work of any description of excelsior, &c,, &c., would find here 
abundant supplies of raw materials, without cost. 

In Fact, whatever an industrious man can do elsewhere he can do here, 
with less comparative expense for rent, in cost of land, fuel, &c., and with- 
out the distractions of a frigid winter, can use the entire twelve months to 
good advantage. 

The Climate of Fruitland Peninsula is delightful during the fall, 
winter and spring months ; during the summer warm, but not so as to in- 
terfere with steady industry in the field or workshop. 

Health. — So much has been said and written respecting Florida as a 



172 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



health resort, that little need be added. There is no part of the world 
where a more continuous health is possible. The pure breezes, the nu- 
merous open, high-banked lakes, the character of the soil, free except along 
the rivers from the suspicion of malaria, the evenness of the temperature, 
the simple out-of-door mode of living, all are guarantees of good health. 
Along the river side due care assures better health than in extensively pop- 
ulated districts surrounding New York City on every side. 

Lands, with unquestioned titles from the United States, can be bought 
at from $5 to $25 per acre. Special buihling sites or vegetable lands com- 
mand somewhat higher prices. 

General Purchases can be made as cheaply at Jacksonville and Pa- 
latka as usually North, except at New York, Boston, &c. It is generally 
better to visit the locality, select lands after actual inspection, then pur- 
chase the goods for house and plantation actually required, and thus save 
freights, breakage and loss. 

People who are here are mostly from the various Northern and 
Western States, a goodly number from Georgia and the Carolinas and ad- 
jacent States, perhaps 5 to 1,070 of the total belong to the colored race. 

People who Ought not to Come Herb. — The lazy and the lame, the im- 
provident and thriftless. Those who say " to-morrow shall be as this day 
and far more abundant," or those who preach, *• a little more sleep — a little 
more slumber." Those who enjoy lounging and talking politics ; those 
who eschew work and are incapable of self-sacrifice ; those who dream there 
is any other wa^^ to fortune, except the way of wisely invested actual cap- 
ital, or well-put, patient, pains-taking labor. 

People who Should Comb Herb. — The old country immigrant, wha 
wants a home, good health, good government, securit}" from enforced mili- 
tary service, education for his children, ample labor, and a final competency. 
The New Englander, who desires to aA-oid the bitter Northeastern winds, 
the death-dealing New Foundland fogs, the stony hills, and the blank, pe- 
cuniar}^ prospects of home farm life. The Westerner, whose thoughts 
hover between prairie and forest fires, and sharp. Rocky Mountain blasts, 
who forgets not the deep need of spring, the treeless drouths of summer, 
the burdening grass-hopper of autumn, and the enforced idleness of winter. 
The cit}' man, who wants a fair fiehl, where his restricted capital and per- 
sonal industry will not enter into merciless competition with the immense 
resources and be weighted down by the traditionary re(|uirements of bus- 
iness and society. All men (not forgetting all women) who can learn and 
perform, as all the above readily may, not the antiquated and laborious 
processes of old-time farming, but the agreeable management of a fi'uit 
plantation, the growing of the orange, lemon, guava, fig, grape and numer- 
ous other semi-tropical fruits, a business demanding no exhaustive labor, 
but affording time for, and consistent in its pursuit with, the higher cultiva- 
tion of our moral and intellectual interests, and assuring by its remuner- 
ative results those various advantages which wealth so usefully subserves. 

SANTA ROSA COUNTY. 

Area, 1,260 square miles or 806,500 acres. Population in 1830, 868; 

in 1840, ; in 1850, 2,883; in 1860, 5,486, in 1870, 3,312; in 1880, 

6.64.5. Public schools, 32; unsold school land, 17,917 acres; of school 



Florida — Its Glimate^ Soil and Productions. 173 



age, 2,668 ; white, 1,888 ; colored, 780 ; school attendance, 624. Acres 
improved land, 947 ; horses, 689 ; cattle, 13,350 ; sheep, 9,956 ; hogs, 
5.701. Assessed value of property in 1881,.$753,079. 

The following is an article taken from the Milton SfoDdard, of Sep- 
tember 24, 1881 : 

Santa Rosa county, one of the westernly counties in the State, contains 
1,260 square miles or 806,500 acres, nine-tenths of which belong to the 
General Government and the State. There are less than two hundred thou- 
sand acres of this vast domain upon which taxes are paid, leaving near 700,- 
000 acres awaiting the immigrant to come and occupy. Through this 
county runs various rivers, three of which are navigable, to-wit : Black- 
water, Yellow and East, and then the Escambia, which forms the boundary 
between the count}^ and Escambia county, Fla., is also navigable. Each of 
these rivers might, with a small outlay, be made of considerable interest to 
the commerce of the county. Besides these streams there are quite a num- 
ber of creeks which are utilized for lumber and grist mills, also for convey- 
ing logs to and timber from the mills. Among the most important ma}^ be 
named Pond, Clear, Juniper, the Cold Waters, Horse Head and Panther. 
Upon the banks of each of these streams is more or less land that is sus- 
ceptible of a high state of cultiA^ation, and even where it is subject to over- 
flow would be profitable for the growing of rice. 

In the west end of tlie county there is a large body of land containing 
thousands of acres, which, from the few experiments that have been made, 
may be said to be a good average corn-producing land, making a yield of 
15 to 25 bushels per acre, without any extraordinary cultivation. This 
land should be the prosperous, happj'^ homes for hundreds who are pressed 
by want of something to do. 

In the northeastern part of the count}' may be found a few industrious 
settlers who till the soil, and when the heavens are propitious receive good 
wages for the labor expended ; and in the same section may be found many 
locations that would justify cultivation ; and, in a word, there is not a section 
of land in the county but upon which may be found some spots that would 
reward the laborer for his pains, and this refers to th" production of the 
staple crops of the country — rice, Indian corn, sweet potatoes and oats. 
But from the success obtained in every section of the county yet tried, it 
is evident that peaches, grapes, figs and pears would be paying crops. The 
pecan grows well in all sections of the county, and it has often been re- 
marked that the pecans grown in this county were far superior to the Texas 
pecan. Our attention was called to some trees belonging to Captain W. W. 
Harrison a short time past, and although we do not claim to be an expert 
in estimating the amount of nuts upon a pecan tree, we venture to sa}' that 
the yield o^ them at the usual price obtained for ^e nuts will be not less 
than $10 to the tree. One acre will grow 60 trees. Here is an uncultivated 
field that invites the young horticulturist. 

The LeConte pear promises to be a great success in this county. 
There are only about 100 growing trees, but they are scattered in various 
sections, and all parties report them good, thrifty growers, free from all 
blight, and the success reported in other counties of the State and adjoining 
parts of Georgia makes it safe to say that they will be a success in this 
county. The^Drice obtained for the fruit shipped to the Northern cities 
has averaged $3 per bushel net, and the largest trees of which any reports 



174 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 



have reached us have grown 50 bushels, fully as good as any orange tree 
reported. 

The most lucrative branch of husbandry yet developed in Santa Rosa 
county is sheep raising, which,' so far as we have been able to learn, lias 
paid from 25 to 40 per cent, in every case where proper care was exercised. 
The number of sheep in the county is far below what their great value 
would justi"^y, the amount of wool shipped the past season only footing up 
oO,Tol pounds. 

This county produces quite a number of horned cattle, and the sale of 
beef and hides is no mean source of revenue. 

The public school system of Santa Rosa is fast growing into public 
favor. Milton, the county seat, has in successful operation a public school 
with four teachers, two of whom it may be said are the equals of the best. 
This school is free to children in the county eight months in the year, being 
_su.pported largely by private subscription, which added to the State help 
secures eight months' tuition. Bagdad has a private school eight months 
in twelve, presided oA^er by a gentleman of ability, besides about thirty 
other schools for the white children in the county. The colored children 
are not neglected, free tuition being offered them in a number of places in 
the county. One school alone in Milton has a regular attendance of 150 
pupils. 

All of the religious denominations usual in the South have commodious 
churches and good congregations in the county. 

And now when we consider the fact that the liealthfulness of Santa 
Rosa county can hardly be equalled anywhere on the globe, and that the 
climate is as pleasant as is to be found in the vast domain of the United 
States of America, and that the people are a law-abiding and order-loving 
people, with an inkling of the progressive spirit that will, when properly 
educated, make this a country where as much human happiness may be ob- 
tained as anywhere, we can conscientiously offer it to the home-seeker. 

Our county will soon be traversed by a grand trunk railroad — the I'en- 
sacola ct Atlantic — which will give cheap and easy connection with the out- 
side wferld, and when our sleeping citizens wake up and build good and 
commodious hotels in oui' pleasantly located towns — Milton ami Bagdad — 
and a o-oodly number of our unfortunate brethren in the cold-bound sec- 
tions find a resting place with us, accompanied with returning health, we 
will see what we ought to see — our vacant acres oocupied. 

The following statement exhibits the results of the first count of popu- 
lation according to the schedules returned to the Census^ Office In' the 
enumerators of Santa Bosa county : 

Kii'st ElectiiMi Preciiiot. incluilinj; tlie ( 'it.v <>f .^ii!t<nl . :>,477 

Milton City '■ '•"•"'^ 

Sccc)n(l Eloction l*reoiiict. '\ 
Third Election Prci-iuct, | 

Fouitli Election Precinct, \ biJ^B 

Filth Election Piccinct, | 
Sixth Election Precinct. J 

Seventh Election Precinct 411 

Eiuhth Eleiti-in I^recinct 148 

Ninth Election Pn'cinct ^_t^ 

Tenth Election Precinct •''^2 

Eleventh Election Pivcinct 116 

Total "'<545 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 175 



SAINT .lOHNS COUNTY. 

Area, 1,000 square miles or (J40,000 acres. Population in 1880. '2,538; 
in 1840, -2,694; in 1850,2,525; in 1860,3,038; in 1870,2,618; in 1880,4,- 
535. Number of public schools, 18; school land unsold, 12,065 acres; of 
school age, 1,788 ; white, 1.203 ; colored, 575 ; school attendance, 879. 
Acres of improved land, 2,882. Horses and mules, 702 ; cattle, 6,941 ; 
sheep, 343; hogs, 1,225. Assessed value of property in 1881, $839,285. 

St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States, is the county 
site. It has been the resort of invalids, and pleasui-e seekers as well, for 
generations. With the Atlantic on the east, and Crescent Lake and St. 
Johns river on the west, the county has bettei' [)rotoction against frost than 
places further inland, in the same latitude. These waters, on the east and 
on the west, afford transportation facilities, which give increased value to 
their lands. 

Almost centrally through the county runs the St. .Johns River Rail- 
road, from St. Augustine to Tocoi, on St. Johns river. Another railway, 
no^ being constructed, is to run from St. Augustine northwestward to 
Jacksonville. 

The soil of the county i< generally poor, but compensated by these 
other advantages, will be largely' devoted to vegetable and fruit-growing. 

SUiMTRR COUNTY. 

Area, 1,380 scjuare miles or 883,200 acres. Population in 1860, 1,549; 
in 1870, 2,952 ; in 1880, 4,686. Number of public schools, 34 ; school lands 
unsold, 13,344 acres ; children of school age, 1,743; white, 1,296; colored, 
447 ; school attendance, 779. Horses and mules, 1,022 ; cattle, 6,112 ; hogs, 
7,632. (These items, as to domestic animals, were left blank in the returns 
of 1881, in Jbhe Comptroller's office, and were tilled out from Dr. French's 
Pamphlet.) Assessed value of property in 1881, $886,745. 

This count}' is fortunately situated in a number of respects. Its trans- 
portation facilities are above those of most counties in the State. On its 
western border the Withlacoochie, navigable by steamers, connects it with 
the waters of the Crulf East of this, and a little west of the centre of the 
county, the Florida Tropical Railway connets it with Fernandina, Jack- 
sonville and the world North, and will soon connect with the (jrulf at 
Tampa. Then still further east from T^akes Harris, Crifiln, Eustis and 
Dora, there is a steamboat connection by way of the Ocklawaha with 
the St. Johns river and the Atlantic ; and also by way of the Lake Kustis 
and St. Johns Railway. Lake .Vpopka is soon to l)e connected by eannal 
with the other lakes (above mentioned), and also by rail with the South 
Florida Railroad, connecting with the St. Johns at Sanford,und at Ki.ssira- 
mee with the (iulf through the fvissimmee and Caloosahatchie rivers. 

The lakes above meniioned. with many smaller ones, are an attractive 
feature of the count} % Lake fronts are favorite locations for residences. 
They are pleasant to the eye. I'hey artord convenient and cheap means of 
transportation, and the}- abound in tisli of choice varieties for the table. 
The lands in quality are above the average for the whole State. Besides 
the hammock, some of the pine lands may be put down as first-class. 

Orange-growing will be a leading item in agriculture. The soil is 



It6 Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Froductions. 



suited, and the latitude far enough south to assure against iiuy serious in- 
jur3' from cold. Indeed, a number of other tropical plants have been and 
will be grown. The pine-apple, during the severest winters, will need a 
covering of straw or litter of some- kind, but through some years will need 
no such protection. Vegetable-growing for tlie earlj^ Northern markets, 
with the means of transportation at hand, will be highly remunerative. 

In a pamphlet on Sumter county, published under the auspices of the 
Agricultural and Fruit-growers Association of the county, its general ele- 
vation is stated to be about two liundred feet above tide-water, and its rate 
of mortality, according to the census of 1880, 37 out of a population of 
6,000, or a little more than one-half of one per cent. 

Another attractive feature of this county is the character and moral 
tone of its citizens. Schools and churches dot the county wherever the 
population is sufficient to maintain them. 

In the marvelous influx ot immigrants now pouring into the State this 
county is receiving, if not a " Benjamin's portion," at least a large share, 
and improved lands are appreciating in value proportionately. 

SUWANXEE COUNTY. • ^ 

Area, 660 square miles or 422,400 acres. Population in 1870, 2,952 ; 
in 1880,6,072. Improved lands, 19,625 acres. Number of public schools, 44 ; 
school lands unsold, :i,720 acres; children of school age, 2,250 ; school at- 
tendance, 959. Horses and mules, 1,249; cattle, 9,330 ; sheep, 1,468 ; hogs, 
6,154. Assessed value of propei'ty in 1880, $663,455. 

The following extracts from the Suwannee County Pamphlet have been 
forwarded for publication in this Pamphlet : 

Climate, Soil and Products. — In geographical position Suwannee 
county is probably more pleasantlj^ and advantageously situated than any 
other portion of the State of Florida. Occupying very neati-ly a central 
position, and lying just at the northern extremity of the Peninsula, it is 
sufficiently distant from the coasts of the Atlantic on the one side, and the 
Gulf on tiie other, to be comparative!}^ free from the gales which are there 
of frequent occurrence, and so productive of damage to farming interests. 
The peculiar formation of the Atlantic coast of Southern Georgia and East- 
ern Florida causes the gales to pass oft', lea^ang this portion compara- 
tively untouched ; and while we may in Southwestern Georgia and some 
portions of Florida often see the sad results of the tornado, in this section 
of the State the tall pines wave their majestic boughs, seemingly conscious 
of their favored localit}'. 

The county is bounded on the north, west and partly on the south, by 
the Suwannee river, by which it is separated from the counties of Hamilton, 
Madison and Lafayette, on the east by Columbia county, and partly on the 
south by the Santa Fee river, which separates it from Alachua. 

The Suwannee river being navigable for steamboats the greater portion 
of the year gives us almost the advantages of the sea-coast, and affords 
fine facilities for the transportation of timber and heavy freights through- 
out nearly all that portion bordering on it. 

Timber and Lumber. — No county in the State can surpass Suwannee 
in the quantity and value of her timber. The hammock lands bordering on 
the Suwannee river and near the lines of railroad, abound in hai-d wood of 



Florida — [t.< CUrnafe, S'yil and Prrniuefion.i. Ill 

-ahuost eveiy variety, such :is liickorv, ivfl-onk, Iiv^^oak, white-oak. artli, 
ijherry. red-bay, lieach, maple and magnolia, while the larjre pine forests are 
densely co^■ored with the very best of yellow [)ines for lumber, and pitch 
pines for the production of turpentine. This large supply (almost inex- 
haustible) is very easy of access by means of the Suwannee river anil the 
railroads. At many points on the Suwannee and Santa Fee rivers, and the 
creeks running into them, water-power of the finest capacity may be ol>- 
tained, and steam saw-mills can be made profitable at almost any point on 
the railroad for converting this timber into lumber, and a ready market can 
be found for it at almost any point of shipment on the coast, besides the 
iocal demand for it in building up our own county. There are now four 
steam saw-mills and several water-mills in the county, manufacturing lum- 
ber both for shipment and home consumption, yet there is good timber 
enough in our favored county to furnish a hundred mills a number of years. 

Soil and Climatk. — Of this territory over two hundred thousand 
Hcres belong to the United States Government, and subject to purchase at 
government price — one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre — or to actual 
settlers, under the provisions of the Homestead Act of Congress, at a cost 
of about eighteen dollars, including all expenses, for tracts of 80 to I GO 
acres. The State owns thousands of this area, denominated school, semi- 
nary, internal improvement and swamp and overflowed lands, and which 
can ])e purchased at from sevent}' cents to one dollar and twent^'-tive cents 
per acre. Large tracts are also owned by capitalists, whose agents are not 
<Usposed to extortion on the honest immigrant proposing to cast his lot 
among us. 

The soil is generally a fertile sandy loam, with a sub-soil of clay, easy 
of cultivation and well adapted to the retention of fertilizers. There are 
very little waste lands or such as cannot be easily made available. 

The climate is very pleasant both winter and summer, the mean tem- 
perature in the winter months being about fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and 
during the suuiiner, say from June to September, the average is about 80 
degrees to 85 degrees. The mercury very seldom rises above \)0 degrees 
in the shade, and in the summer the nights are cool and pleasant, having 
the benefit of the breezes from both the Atlantic and (riilf. It is a matter 
of no little surprise to those who understand it that invalids should seek 
the humid atmosphere of the lakes, rivers and sea coast in preference to 
the more salubrious and equable climate of the pine lands of the interior 
counties. 

I'RODLCTIONS. — I'he marketable productions of Suwannee county, in 
common with other counties of the State, have heretofore consisted chiefly 
of cotton, corn and sugar, the climate and soil being admirably adapted to 
the sea island or long staple cotton and sugar-cane; and, under the old 
system of labor, when cotton was recognized as '' king," this was one of 
tiie most remunerative branches of agriculture, as tiie sea inland cotton 
usually commanded a fine price. Since the close of the w;ir Ix'.tween the 
States, and the entire change in the system of labor, some .attention has been 
paid to the cultivation for market of fruits and vegetables, for the produc- 
tion of which this count}' cannot be surpassed. And as a matter of refer- 
ence for any person wishing to engage in that business, we refer to promi- 
nent gentlemen who have, and continue to engage in that business more as 
an experiment than as a specialty, viz : J. ( >. C. Jones, Superintendent of 
12 



15 « Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and Productions. 



Public Schools, ex-C'ounty Judge M. A. Clouts, A. A. Blackburn, J. A. 
Allen, P. B. Blount, W. AY. Clark and E. E. Mussy, Live Oak, Fia. ; J. P. 
Morgan, Houston, Fla. ; J. A. Greshara, A. W. McLaren and Walters, Wel- 
born. Fla. Those who may want an}' special information not stated herein, 
may address either of the gentlemen named, enclosing stamp, and rely on 
the information given. 

Oranoks. — While we do not claim that the orange can be cultivated 
here with the same success or certaint}' as upon the St. Johns river, or the 
Atlantic and Gulf coast of South Florida, we do claim that it may be pro- 
duced in this coimty witli a little care in the protection of the yovuig trees, 
without risk, as weatlier suftlcicntl}' cold to affect the orange trees is of rare 
occurrence. Where the culture of the orange has been tried it has been suc- 
cessful ; and on many places in tlie county there are the different varieties 
of SOUJ-, bitter-sweet and the sweet or China orange, and the shaddock or 
grape fruit. 

Graves. —The culture of the grape is destined to become one of the 
leading features in the horticulture of Suwannee. The Scuppernong grape 
has been for several years successful!} cultivated, and during the past two 
years a large number of this variety has been planted, and are now grow- 
ing finely. Recent experiments with other varieties, as the Catawba, Isa- 
bella, etc., have demonstrated the practicability of producing them in great 
abundance and of fine quality. The forest abounds with the wild Fox 
grape and Muscadine, from which a ver}' delicious wine is manufactured. 

Peaches. — There is no portion of the State, and we may safely add, of 
the United States, where peaches can be raised more successfully than in, 
this county. The character of our soil being especially adapted to this de- 
licious fruit, its increased production as an article of export will very soon 
be a source of very considerable profit to the producers. By taking pains 
in the selection of the best early varieties, we can have them in the market 
two weeks earlier than from Georgia cfr the Carolinas, and more than a 
^onth ahead of the Delaware and New Jersey farms, securing the heavy 
prices paid in New York and other large cities for those first in the market. 

Other Frijts. — In addition to those enumerated, we may mention the 
plum, pear, nectarine, pomegranate, apricot, fig and quince, for the produc- 
tion of which our soil and climate are well adapted. Judge M. M. Black- 
burn has invested largley in the production of the LeConte pear, and R. A. 
Reid, Esq., in an early May peach. These gentlemen will give any infor- 
mation desired in regard to their cultivation in this county. Address them 
at Live Oak, Fla., and enclose stamp for return postage. Strawberries also 
are successfully raised, of fine quality and abundant yield, while in many 
portions of the county are growing wild in the woods large quantities of 
delicious blackberries, gooseberries and whortleberries. 

Marke'^ Gardening. — The cultivation of vegetables for market in 
this county, already a success, is destined to supersede the cultivation of 
cotton to a very considerable extent. With the facilities we have for cheap 
and rapid transportation from almost any portion of the county to the mar- 
kets of the whole country, there can be no uncertainty as to the profits 
resulting from vegetable culture. Without entering into details, we sim- 
ply enumerate the vegetables which are produced here as well as they can 
be elsewhere, and thrown into the market as early in the season as from 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil aad Froductiont^. 1*?9 

any other point, to-wit : Asparagus, beans of ever}' variet}', beets, cabbage, 
carrots, cauliflower, celery, corn, cress, cucumbers, egg-plant, leek, lettuce^ 
melons of everj' kind, okra, onions, peas of ever^' description, pepper, po- 
tatoes — sweet and Irish — pumpkins, radishes, rutabagas, sijuashes, tomatoes 
and turnips. 

Many of our citizens have been experimenting in the culture of various 
kinds of semi-tropical and tropical plants, fruits and vegetables in ihis 
county, and for the benefit of immigrants we refer to Colonel John F. 
White as the largest manufacturer of Scuppernong wine, and to Frank 
White as the most extensive experimenter in the culture of dates, prunes, 
tea plants, olives, LeConte peais, Japan pei'simmons, and all the varieties 
of fruits, vegetables and productions of the high and salubrious climate of 
Suwannee county. Hither of these gentlemen may be addressed at Live 
O.ik, Fla., for any special information desired. 

Facilities for 'rRANsivoHTATioN. — The Florida ('entral and Western 
Railroad enters this county at Columbus, the confluence of the Suwannee 
and Withlacoochee rivers, thence running east through the heart of the 
county to Welborn, a ilistance of twenty -live miles, l^he Savannah, Flor- 
ida and Western Road starts at Live Oak, running eight miles due north 
through the comity, thus giving to our county a line of railroa«l already 
completed aad in successful operation of thirty-tliree miles, and connecting 
it with Tallahassee, the Capital of the State, eighty-three miles ; Jackson- 
ville, on the St. Johns river, eighty miles; T'ernandina, on the Atlantic 
coast, one hundred miles, and upon the Gulf coast with Cedar Keys, one 
hundred and fifty; St. Marks, one Imndred miles distant, and with Sava-n- 
nah, (ia., one hundred and eighty miles distant, and by the way of the 
Macon and Brunswick Railroad with Macon. Atlanta and the great West. 

IvKTJGioi s AND Kjm('at[onai,. — The leading denominations in this 
county are the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Protestant Episcopa- 
lian, and in almost every neighborhood churches are found of suUicieut 
capacity to meet the wants of the congregations. (Jood schools are kept 
u|). anci there is no difficulty in procuring the means of an educaticm. 

Towns — Tjive Oak, the county site, is the railroad centre of the State. 
It is located in the midst of fertile pine lands, about the centr(f of the 
countv, at the junction of the Florida Central and Western, the Savannah, 
Florida and Western, and the Rowland's Blult" and Charlotte's Harbor 
railroads; andean boast of as healthy a location as any in the United 
States. There aie located here one large turpentine distillery, <jne carriage 
and wagon manufactory, three extensive cotton-ginning establishments, 
run l\y steam, and two corn mills, three bakeries, two market stalls, seven- 
teen stores, several boarding-houses, and one large biick hotel in course of 
construction ; also three white and three colored churches, several white 
and colored schools, and also the Florida /lull' fin, a weekly paper, is pub- 
lished here. Two large steam saw-mills are in the near vicinity, from 
which large quantities of nuinufactured lumber are daily shipped to various 
points ; also several extensive fruit farms are in the immediate vicinity, 
fn short, Live Oak is rapidly increasing in importance and poi)nlation. 
Contractors are wanted to bore an artesian well. 

CoLUMHi s AND BOSTON are steamboat landings on the Suwannee river. 

RiXFORi). located four miles north of Live Oak. on the S. F. & W. Road, 



180 Florida — Its Climate, So-ii and Productions. 



contains one store, one turpentine still, one grist and rice cleaning mill, 
controlled })y Geo. C. Rixtbrd. 

Custer, located on the V. C. Si W. Road, tive miles west of Live Oak, 
contains one store, one extensive turpentine still, operated 1)V\C. K. But- 
ton, E8(l. 

Newborn, situated six miles southwest of Live Oak, on tram road, 
contains one store and other buildings for turpentine and naval store pur- 
poses, controlled by C. K. Dutton. 

Padlock, situated live miles south of fjive Oak, and connected at Live 
Oak by tram road, contains one extensive store, owned by .J. H. Rutf ; a 
large naval manufacturing establishment, owned by C. K. Dutton, Esq. 

LuKAViLLE is situated in what is called the Bend of the Suwannee 
river, eighteen miles south of Live Oak, and on the Suwannee river. Con- 
tains one store, one steam saw and grist mill and cotton-gins, controlled 
by W. L. Irvine. This section is one of the best to be found in the 
county, being well supplied with churches, schools and shipping facilities, 
fertile lands unsurpassed by any other section. 

Suwannee is a station on the Savannah, Florida and Western Kailroad 
near where it crosses the river of that name. The celebrated Suwannee 
Springs are near this place, and seven miles north of Live Oak. The Su- 
wannee Spr'ngs are yearly becoming more in favor for their medical quali- 
ties, as evidenced by the addition of eight or ten new cottages during the 
last season. 

Little IIiver PosT-t»Ft'iCE is situated near the centre and on the east- 
ern border of the county in a quiet neighborhood of good, industrious citi- 
zens, all of whom are farmers The above site is six miles from the F. 
C. & W. Railroad, Welborn station being the nearest shipping point. This 
neighborhood is noted for its forests being densely covered with the very 
best and largest of yellow pines for saw-mill enterprises. 

Rowland's Bli ff is a new town on the east bank of the Suwannee 
river, about twenty miles south of Live Oak. It is surrounded by some of 
the best pine and'hamraock lands in the State. It has the best steamboat 
landing on the river, which is navigable at all seasons of the year. Several 
boats have been making regular trips for some time. The Live Oak, 
Rowland's Blutf and Charlotte Harbor Railroad taps the Suwannee 
river at this point. At this place there is a post-office, two stores and one 
niilling and ginning establishment. 

With all these advantages of soil, products, climate, health, religious 
and educational facilities and the means of quick transportation, we can 
offer very great inducements to immigrants ; and we assure all good men, 
from all sections of the country, a cordial welcome and cheerful assistance 
in finding homes in the county. 

Any special information not set forth in this article may be procured 
by addressing with stamp either of the following-named gentlemen: M. M. 
Blackburn, County Judge, R. A. Reid, Clerk Circuit Court, Jno. F. White, 
State Attorney, [jive Oak, Fla. : Jno. W. Rice, ex-County Judge, Tjuraville, 
Fla.; Rev. R. F. Rogers, Little River, Fla.; A. W. McLaren, Welborn, 
Fla.; J. P. Morgan, Houstoun, Fla.; J. H. Ruff, Padlock, Fla.; Geo. C. 
Rixford, Rixford, Fla. 



Fl<yrida — 7/.v Climate, Soil and Produeiion^. 181 



TAYLOR OOITNTY. 

Area, 1,080 square miles or 691,200 acres. Population in 1860, 1,384 ; 
in 1870, 1,453; in 18S0, 2,279. Xumber of public schools, 7 ; school lands 
unsold, 20,591 acres ; children of scliool age, 687 ; white, 656 ; colored, 31 ; 
school attendance, 317 ; improved land, 4,289 acres. Horses and mules, 
305-; cattle, 9,887 ; sheep. 535; hogs, 4.593. Assessed value of propert.y 
in 1881, $148,165. 

The following paper was pre{)ared and forwarded by Dr. S. A. Wilcox : 

Taylor, county is fortunately situated. It borders the Gulf of Mexico 
on its south for the distance of about forty miles. This gives it easy access 
to the ocean and furnishes to it a number of excellent fisheries. 

At about three miles f)-om the Gulf the surface rises to the elevation 
of about tw(;nty feet and then continues for the most part level. The soil 
is suitable for growing long cotton, corn, and the various crops and fruits of 
Florida. The principal timber growth on the elevated lands is pine, which 
seems almost inexhaustible. The hammock lands have white-oak, hickory, 
live-oak, cypress and other hard woods of hammock growth in Florida. 

As to water-power, there are five streams running generally in a south- 
westerly direction and empt^'ing into the Gulf of Mexico, at a distance 
from each other of about six miles. These streams have suflicient fall to 
furnish water-powei- for turning machinery and suitable sites for necessary' 
buildings. These advantages exist here to an extent almost inexhaustible. 

Partly from want of railroad facilities to market, there have as yet 
been no turpentine farms in this county, with all the abundance of pine 
forests, and for the same reason but little of the pine has been converted 
into lumber. 

As to the useful minerals of oui- soil, there has been no effort to ascer- 
tain their number or the quantity they may offer for use to the public. We 
need some move in that direction. We liave some fine mineral springs, 
chalybeate and white-sulphur, and their healing waters are in rich abundance, 
inviting invalids to test their curative powers. 

In regard to schools and churches, the county has for a long while 
been in a frontier condition, and is still largely so. But there is some im- 
provement in these respects — several churches liave been erected in the last 
few years, and tlie system of common schools provided by the State is fur- 
nishiJig soi?U' knowledge of books to (piite a number wlio would otherwise 
be unable to procure sucli knowledge. 

As encouragement to immigration, we can say our people are kind, 
clever, hospitable -and desirous to ofier a cordial welcome to immigrants; 
and there arc thousands of acres of good lands, pine forests and hammocks 
which are awaiting their arrival and their tillage. 

That this county is the land that flows with milk and honey, we offer 
the assurance that we have plenty of both. With the railroad facilities 
now in prospect, no better home need be sought or desired. Give us the 
road alread}' surveyed, and then our soil for tillage, our forests for lumber 
and turpentine, and our water-power for turning machinery will render our 
{ocality a garden spot in Florida. 

The writer will cheerfully give attention to any letters of inquiry that 
mav Ik- addressed to him. 



182 Florida — Its Glimate^ Soil and Productions. 



YOLUHIA COUNTY. 

Area, 1,340 square miles or 857,600 acres. Population in 1«60, 1,158 ; 
in 1870, 1,723; in 1880, 3,294. Number of public schools, 31 ; schooUand^ 
unsold, 19,504 acres; children of school age, 1,143: white, 967 ; colored, 
176; school attendance, 740; improved land, 6,517 acres. Horses and 
mules, 517; cattle, 13,636; slieep, 559; hogs, 2,515. Assessed value of 
property in 1881, $926,790. 

The following article has been presented by General John K. Stillman : 

Enterprise, the county site of Volusia county, is situated on I^ake 
Monroe, contains the celebrated Brock House, noted for its mineral springs 
and is an attractive winter resort, near which is the celebrated groves and 
winter residence of Count DeBarry. The village contains two churches, 
three stores, one drug store, post-office, one newspaper, the Enterprise Her- 
ald, two hotels, one school-house, one livery- stable, several boarding- 
housies aad three law-offlces. The scenery on the lake is beautiful. The 
countiiy around is adapted to agriculture and orange-culture. A railroad 
is projected to Titusville, the survey of which has been made and its early 
completion anticipated. 

Oranoe City was established in 1876 by six men from Wisconsin, 
is in the centre of the orange belt, and now contains two hotels, several 
boarding-houses, five general stores, one drug store, two livery stables, two 
dentists, two physicians, two law-offlces, one millinery shop, one carriage 
factory, one blacksmith-shop, one saw, plaining and shingle mill, Southern 
Express office, one church, one school-house, with high school privileges, 
one money-order post-office, with daily mail, one newspaper, the South 
Florida Ti.mes^ Avith temperance and liLerar\^ societies established, two free 
libraries, one brass band, eight [)ieces. We boast of 100 houses and a pop- 
ulation of 500. It is estimated that there are within a radius of two and a 
half miles from the centi'e of the city, 1,1U0 acres of orange trees, besides 
lemons, limes, plums, grapes, guavas, figs, peach, pine-apple, bananas and 
other semi-tropical fruits. The junction of the B. O. C. <k A. R. R. with 
the Palatka k Indian River Railroad, of wJiich surveys have been made, 
is within a few rods of the hotels and post-office. We need skilled labor 
and invite foreign immigration. Twenty-five common laborers, as such, 
could find employment here. Common laborers command $1.25 per day ; 
carpenters, $2 ; domestic labor, $2 per week. Many young orange groves 
are just coming into bearing. Pine lands in their virgin state are plentiful, 
and can be had at reasonable rates. The city is two and a half miles from 
Blue Spring Landing, between which good conveyances are in attendance 
to meet the boats. Our unprecedented growth is sufficient evidence of the 
quality of our land and the healthfulness of our location. 

WeLam) is located five miles east of its landing on the St. Johns river. 
It w*s established by H. A. DeLand, of Fairport, New York, about five 
years ago. It is in the centre of the orange belt, and contains three gen- 
eral staves, one drug store, one furniture store, a post-office, with daily 
mail, several commodious boarding-houses, telephone to landing, one church, 
cue school-house, one livery stable, one newspaper, the Florida Agricul- 
turist, two physicians, two dentists, two lawyers, one millinery store, two 



Florida. — It.<. Climate, Soil and ProdufHona. 1S3 



saw mills, one w^goii factory, one blacksmith-shop, library and literar\- so- 
ciety. The junction of the Orange Ridge and Atlantic Railroad with the 
Palatka and Indian River Railroad, of which surveys have been made, is 
within a few rods of the hotel and post-office. The lands are adapted to the 
successful cultivation of the orange and other semi-tropical fruits. There 
are several hundred acres of young orange trees within a radius of a few 
miles from the centre, some of which are just coming into bearing, which, 
with lands in their virgin state, can be had at reast>nable rates, and otter in- 
ducements to the immigrant and settler. 

Daytona is situated twelve miles north of the mouth of the Ualifax 
river, on a high elevation, and on one the most beautiful sites in the county. 
It is one mile from the ocean on the west bank of the river, and on a shell 
hammock with its houses resting under the shadow of live oaks. The town 
was laid out by Mr. Da}', of Dayton, Ohio, in 1811, and contains about oOO 
inhabitants, with three general stores, one dry goods store, one drug store, 
one furniture store, one hotel, two boarding houses, a post-office, one school- 
house, one seminar}' for young ladies, one saw-mill, one blacksmith-siiop, 
one dentist, two physicians, one Masonic lodge, two church services each 
Sabbath. This place is supplied with water from flowing wells. The sur- 
rounding lands is principally hammock, and is well adapte(l to ttie cultiva- 
tion of the orange and other semi-tropical fruits. 

HoLi.EY Hill is situated equi-distant between Oruiund and Daytona ; 
has a post-office, one store, one school-house and about fifty inhabitants. 
It is situated on high hammock land, is well adapted to the cultivation of 
the orange and other semi-tropical fruits, and offers sf)ecial inducement^ t<» 
the immigrant and settler. 

Blake is situated equi-distant between Daytona and Port Orange, on 
the west bank of the Halifax river ; has a post-office, school-house and 
about fifty inhabitants. It is situated on good iiamniock land, well adapted 
to the cultivation of the orange and other semi-tropical fruits, and offers 
rare inducement to those wishing to make investments. 

Port Oraniik is situated about seven miles from the mouth of tlie Hal- 
ifax ; has two stores, two school-houses, one hotel, one cigar manufactory 
and about one hundred inhabitants. In the vicinity are several large bear- 
ing orange groves. The surrounding lands are mostly hammock, and are well 
adapted to farming and the cultivation of the orange and other semi-tropi- 
cal fruits. There are special inducements here to the tourist in the way 
of boating and fishing, and with an abundance of oysters make it a very 
desirable winter resort. 

New Smyrna is situated four miles south of the inlet on the Hills- 
borough river. It is the oldest settlement south of St. Augustine, and has 
one of the best harbors on the coast. It is situated on hammock land, 
and is surrounded by excellent lands for settlement, which can be had at 
reasonable rates. It has two stores, post-office, church, hotel, school-house 
and about one hundred inhabitants. It offers special inducements to the 
pleasure -seeker in fisii and oysters. 

Oak Hill is situated about twenty miles south of New Smyrna, on 
the Lagoon, on hammock land, and is within a few miles of the celebrated. 
Dumraitt grove. It has a store, post-otiice, school-house and about fifty iu- 



184 Florida — It,s Climate, So-il and Prodiuiions. 



habitants. It offers special inducements to the pleasure-seeker in fish and 
oysters, and is near a good cattle range. 

OttMUND is situated eighteen miles from the mouth of the Halitax 
river, half a mile from the ocean. The town was laid out six years ago 
by VA'^ilson tV Willard, of New Britain, Connecticut. There are in the place 
two boarding houses, one store, one palmetto mattress factory, one school- 
house, a post-ortice and tri-weekly mail. Its healthfulness is unsurpassed. 
Surf-bathing and beautiful drives are atti'actions here for the tourist and 
pleasure-seeker. The surrounding lands are of a good quality of hammock, 
and are well adapted to agriculture and the cultivation of semi-tropical 
fruits. 

Beresfuhu is situated on ti lake of that name 1()5 miles from Jackstm- 
ville, in one of the most beautiful sites (m the StJohus liver, is surrounded 
by excellent lands for orauge-cultnre, which can be had at cheap rates, and 
offers special inducements to the immigrant and settlei-. It (contains one 
general store, one saw-mill, one hotel, school-iiouse, church and several 
boarding houses, and about Jifty iniiabitants. 

Prevatt is situated about six miles from Orauge City, is upon :i 
fine quality of high pine land. It contains a store, p.^st-ottice, .school-houst 
and about fifty inhabitants. It is noted for containing one of the ohlest 
and best groves in the State. 

Spring Garden, Volusia, Si'ville and Clifton, emiuace tlie north (M)d 
of the county, Seville being situated in the extivnie northwe-'t portion, 
on the east shore of Lake George, and within two miles of tlu; Jine (divid- 
ing Volusia an(i Putnam counties. 

N'oncsiA, the tirst permanent lantling on the upper St. John^, is an *^n- 
t-erprising place, receiving an impetus from late immigration ajid tlie build- 
ing of the Lake Eustis and St. Johns Railway depot on the opposite side 
of the river. It has one hotel, t\v<j stores, one real estate olfice, scx-eral 
boarding houses, and school and church privileges. 

Si'KiN(i Garden is situated south of the last named place, near the 
famous "Spring Garden Springs," noted for their medicinal properties, and 
to which many invalid tourists and pleasure-seekers flock during the winter 
travel in Florida. It lies east from the river about eight miles. Spring 
Garden Creek being its outlet, and on which plies the steamer Daylight, 
carrying the LT. S. mail, passengers, goods, Ac, for that section. Within 
one mile from the spring is one of the largest orange groves in the State 
owned by Mr. George A. Norris, formerly of Chicago, and from which city 
oars are chartered to Jacksonville to transport fruit from his one hundred- 
acre grove, yielding the present year it is estimated 1 ,000,000 oranges. 
The place contains about 200 inhabitants, with tlu- usual appliances of a 
mo<lern town. 

Clifton is more of a settlmnent than a village and is in close prox- 
imity to the finest stock range in the county. The tw<> latter places are 
nearly centrally located on the same high, rolling pine ridge that Orange 
City and DeLand are situated on, and the tine orange groves brought into 
bearing by the pioneer settlers are evidences of the superiorit}^ and adapta- 
bility of the soil for the successful cultivation of that fruit. From two to 
Lbroe miles back from Seville and Volusia is a continuation of this same 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 185 



lidge running pai-allel with tlie St. Jolins river. This whole ridge is inter- 
spersed with numerous cr^^stal lakes in which abound innumerable quanti- 
ties of the finny tribe, such as bass, trout, bream, <fec., which can be caught 
at any season of the year. The countr}' around Seville, Spring Garden 
and Volusia is high pine, and of a rich (juality, well adapted to farming, as 
the rich plantations of the early settlers abundantl}' testify. 

The St. Johns river runs the entire length of the western border and 
the Halifax and Hillsborough rivers or lagoons traverse the entire eastern 
boundary, with only a narrow strip of land, formed by the winds and waves 
of the ocean, extending between them and the ocean. 1 1 is one of the most 
progressive and thriving counties in the State. The lands along the west 
bank of the Halifax and Hillsborough rivers, four or five miles wide, are the 
richest hammocks, and were cultivated in sugar-cane at a very early period 
by the English and Spaniards, the remains of whose extensive works still 
exist. It is said that four hogsheads of sugur per acre have been and can 
be still produced on these lands. West of this is a belt of prairie, inter- 
spersed with pine and cabbage-palmetto, extending the entire length of the 
count}', and afll'ordiug magnificent grazing for stock. Next, further west, 
extending from the northern end of the county south about thirty miles, 
and varying in width from two to six or seven miles, is a high, rolling pine 
country, considered by many the best for orange-culture, on whicli are hun- 
dreds of beautiful young groves : from this, southward, is a high, rolling 
pine scrub, until the St. Johns is reached with its varying banks of rich 
hammock and savanna. Springs, lakes and ponds abound all through the 
county. Enterprise, on Lake Monroe, is the county seat. 

Any information in regard to Volusia county can be obtained by 
writing to J. A. Austin, Secretary of the Volusia County Immigration So- 
ciety. Orange Oity, Florida. 

WALTON OOITNTY. 

Area, 1 ,:i(;o square miles or 870,400 acres. Population in 1830, 1,207; 
m 1840. 1,4(>1 ; in 1850, 1,817; in I860, 3,037; in 1870, 3,041; in 1880, 
4,201. Number of schools, 2*;; school land unsold, 22,915 acres ; children 
of school age, 1,222— white, 1,104; colored, 118; school attendance, 250. 
Acres of improved land, 3,:>05 ; horses and mules, 483; cattle, 11,517; 
sheep, 13,841 ; hogs, 0,774. Assessed value of property in 1881, $270,187. 

The Choctawhatchie river on the east, emptying into Choctawhatchie 
bay, is navigable, and furnishes transportation to the eastern part of the 
county, while the Yellow river, emptying into Pcnsacola bay, is also navi- 
gable^ aud furnishes transportation to the western part of the county. 

The lands are generally pine, and well watered. There are some ex- 
ceptionally fertile hinds on the Choctawhatchie, and tilso in tiie ITchei' 
valley. 

Elcueeanna, the county site, is in the eastern pail of tiie county. 

The Pensacola and Atlantic Kailroad passes through the county from 
oast to west, and when completed in December next will greatly enhance 
the value of real estate and add all the advantages of commercial facilities. 

The settlement of the Euchee valle}' was in 1823 by a colony of Scotch 
people. The lands in that section are red clay, are durable in the highest 
degree, and will earnestly invite new settlements when railroad facilities 
a.rt'a^ded. These Scotch people liave certainly demonstrated the protita- 



186 Florida — It>i Climate, Soil and Froduction.-i. 

bleness of wool growing in that part of Florida, and, judgiag from the ex- 
tensive inquiry made of this Bureau as to suitable localities in Florida for 
sheep husbandry, we predict that when the success of the Walton county 
farmers in that particular becomes more widely known their county will 
atti'act considerable interest in this as well as in the other agricultural ad- 
vantages it enjoys. 

AVASHIJ^GTON OOUIsTTY. 

Area, l,y30 square miles or 211,200 acres. Population in 1880, 9T8 ; 
in 1840, 859 ; in 1850, 1,950 ; in 1860, 2,154 ; in 1870, 2,302 ; in 1880, 4,089^ 
Number of public schools, 12 ; school lands unsold, 27,184 acres; scholars 

of school age, 762 -whites, 582; colored, ; attendance, 423 ; number of 

acres improved land, . Horses and mules, 381 : cattle, 8,480 ; sheep, 

4,394 ; hogs. 5,378. Assessed value of property in 1881, $201,355. 

The county- site is Yernou, situated on Holmes creek, a branch of the 
Ohoctawhatchie river. The navigation of the latter river, the westei'n 
boundary-, up to the northwest corner of the county, has heretofore afforded 
an outlet to market. The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad will give trans- 
portation to the central part of the county, and St. Andrews ba}' and the 
Gulf of Mexico attbrds it to the southern portion. The northern part of the 
county is hill}' and rolling ; the remainder, for the most part, is level. Pine 
land is the prevailing quality. In Holmes valley, where most of the 
farming interests are concentrated, the lands are most excellent. In point 
of fertility and durabdity the lands of Holmes valley cannot be surpassed 
by any in the State. Some portions of them have been under cultivation 
for thirty or forty years, and to-day yield large crops without the aid of 
fertilizers. When in good condition they yield about ftve hundred pounds 
of lint cottor to the acre, from thirty-five to forty bushels of corn, from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred bushels of sweet potatoes, five hun- 
dred gallons of sjrup, and twelve hundred pounds of tobacco. The valley 
is plentifully sup})lied with fine water, and surrounded by pine woods. There 
is no healthier portion of the State. The kinds of timber are oak, beech, 
hickory, ash, poplar, bay, magnolia and pine. 

Labor is very scarce. Farm hands receive from twelve to fifteen dol- 
lars per month, and saw-mill hands from twenty-five to forty. 

Price of land varies from one to ten dollars per acre, and the cost of 
clearing is from five to ten with cultivation first year. 

There are five saw-mills in the county — two water power and three 
steam. Lumber sells at eight to ten dollars per thousand. 

The climate is delightful. The extreme heat of summer is tempero<i 
b}' the winds from the Gulf Magnificent springs, large ponds, and pure 
streams of water are to be found in all parts of the county. 

The people are noted for their hospitality, and will extend a lu',art\' 
welcome to all strangers, irrespective of political oi)inion. who come to 
seek homes and who are honest and industrious. 

Of late years very considerable interest has developed in Washington 
county in sheep husbandry. The climate is so admirabl}^ suited to sheep 
that the cost of keeping them is scared}* appreciable, and, although the 
great range of natural pasturage in the gently undulating pine woods is 
rnjt 3o rich and bountiful as some of the walks in the West, still they are 
goiod eraough to support a flock in very respectable shape, and a few years 
of "pasturing naturally benefits the land and im]uoves the vegetation. If 



Florida — Jtti Climate,, Soil and Prodvetions. 18t 

there is a land in the world wliere sheep, bees and orchards will support a 
man comfortahly while giving emplo\'^nient to some of the more cultured 
impulses of his mind, it is in West Florida, and especially in Washington 
county. The new railroad makes the outside world accessible for the first 
time in our history, and ere long many folks of the earth will come among 
ns. 

WAKILLA COUNTY. 

Area, 58(i square miles or 871,200 acres. Po[)ulation in 18.t0, 1,95.t ; 
in 18B0, 2,839 ; in 1870, 2,50f) ; in 1880, 2,723. Xumber of public schools, 
18 ; school lands unsold, S83 acres ; scholars of school age, 809 — whites, 
.510 : colored, 299 ; attendance, 383 ; acres improved land, 9,783. Hor- 
ses and mules, 489 ; cattle, 6,060 ; sheep, 427 ; hogs. 3,7o2. Assessed 
value of property in 1881, $314,833. 

The Hon. .John L. Ci'awford, a citizen of Wakulla, and .".t present Sec- 
retaiy of State of the State of Florida, has supplied us with the following 
paper on Wakulla county : 

I herewith transmit to you a plain statement of the natural advantages 
and I'esources of Wakulla county. 

Official statistics furnished by the department at Washington show 
that the death rate of Florida is less tlian any other State in the T^nion, and 
Wakulla helped to make that showing. 

The icy night of December 29, 1880, qualified my opinion as to the 
climatic advantages of Wakulla for the production f>f tropical fruits; and 
yet thei'e were orange plants in the nursery and trees thirty years old in 
the grove that were not injured by it; nevertheless the mercury in Fahren- 
heit's thermometer dipped within 16 degrees of zero. It was •' Southern 
weather with Northern principles,'' and fruits less tropical than oranges 
and bananas are better suited to such [)rinciples, unless the frozen trees are 
shaded. The danger is not immediately from the freeze, frozen trees are 
not dead, and the crisis is in the thawing process. 

The surlace of the coimty is mainly level and sand3'. East of the Wa- 
kulla river it lies low in places, has a productive surface and a durable lime- 
rock and clay sub-soil — rocky everywhere. Nowhere could lime be burned 
or crushed at less expense or in greater abundance than along the line of 
the Tallahassee and St. Marks Railroad. I'he southeastern part of the 
central division, and known as '' Hartsfteld's Survey," is unique. It is an 
elevated plateau of irregular, alternate tracts of open pine, dense oak and 
hickory, and denser hammock lands. The natural sub-divisions of this 
plateau into poor, rich and richer soils, and consequent pine, oak and 
hickory and hammock forests, without elevations or depressions, is an in- 
comprehensible phenomena. Anyhow, I have heard no satisfactory solu- 
tion of it. The hammocks are heavily timbered with live oak, white oak, 
magnolia, sweet gum, cedar, hickory, red bay, walioo and beech trees, pro- 
fusely and beautifully ornamented in places with long, gra}' moss hanging 
in wreath}' complications from every branch of every tree. A moss mill 
or factory in the mossy realm for the purpose of converting the live gray 
into dead black moss — a saleable staple — would develop an industry that 
would fleece the forest of its garland of gray. A nd a tannery in the Qpky 
realm would be useful to the jteople and profitable to the tanner. The 
western division, batinsj the rich pine and richer Uitiainock lands on So}»- 



1188 Fhjrida — /te Climate, Soil and Froduetionff. 



chojjpy and Ocklockouee rivers, is poor piney woods, interspersed every- 
where with bays covering from less than one acre to many thousands of 
aores, connected each with the other and with the creeks and rivers hy 
sloughs — natural outlets to freshets and floods. Their bottoms are deep 
dejiosits of vegetable decomposition, thoroughl}- overspread with ty-ty 
shrubbery and white bay, black gum and cypress trees ; submerged in wet 
weather ; immensely rich, and are, many of them, suscepticle of thorough 
drainage. They are harbors for coons, cats, otters, deer and bears. The 
woods abound with wild honey. Honey made by tame bees is the leading 
staple commodity of the Ocklockonee colony. 

The county is rich in its soil, timber and varied productions. The 
soil of Old Town, White, Berrien and other large hammocks is dark and 
mellow, the vegetable decomposition is deep and abundant, and its founda- 
tion is a chaotic combination of clay, miirl and shell ; in places lime-rock 
lies thick on the surface and is deeply imbedded in the sub-soil. It is 
capable of producing from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of sugar, 500 pounds of 
lint cotton, 500 bushels of sweet potatoes, or 50 bushels of corn per acrc- 
These are outside figures. It will produce Irish potatoes, Cubji tobacco, 
rice, rye, oats, peas, pindars, melons, vegetables, <fec., proportionately. Time 
and time again 1 have chronicled Mr. A. P. Tully's and his son George's 
prodigious productions of sugar and syi'up, and Col. John S. Feriell's un- 
exampled production of sweet potatoes, and their productions of sugar and 
syrup are reported beaten ; that is, their competitors report the number of 
barrels of sugar and syrup produced per acre without hinting as to the 
number of pounds of sugar and gallons of syrup in each barrel. Sugar 
and syrup b.irrels are not all the same size, nor are they all brimful. But 
Col. Ferrcll's production of potatoes is unprecedented, and 1 reproduce it. 
From one and a half acres he. gathered 1,000 bushels of /a/x/^^ potatoes, 
leaving all the small ones in the patch for the hogs, or at tlu^ i-ate of a frac- 
tion over G6() bushels ])er acre. The groiuid and potatoes were measured. 
The witness still lives. 

The greatest variety of wild grapes, and tlie greatest abundance and 
superior quality of each variety, show the adaptability, both of soil and 
climate, for grapes ; and tlie immensely produciive graperies throughout 
the count}' demonstrate that the black, brown and varieties of the 8cup|)er- 
nong are at home. 

Figs, pecans, plums, pomegranates, jjersimmons, blackberries, whortle- 
berries, gooseberries, mulberries, &c., are produced in profusion and to 
perfection. It is a wonder that every farmer has not a pecan grove. 

From time beyond memory down to 1865 i)eaches were abundant, large 
and luscious as a rule, wormy the exception ; since tiien wormy has been 
the rule, luscious the exception. I state the case without any knowledge 
of the cause. The JjcConte pear is on probation, and its vigorous growth 
and healthful appearance presage the early realization of the most san- 
guine expectations. 

The rough foliage of saw-palmetto, which nature has so abnndantlv 
scattered all over the piney woods, is the best material in the world for 
making pa])er. A letter written on palmetto paper will bear washing with 
water and soap, rubbing and rinsing like linen, without injury to the letter 
or the paper on which it is written. Palmetto paper bags are as impervious 
to water or alcohol as glass bottles ; and if palmetto roots were as good 
for food as sweet i>otatoes, having a " public meat-house," Wakulla would 



Florida — iLs Glimate^ Soil and Productions. 189 

be the El Dorado of Florida. Professor Herring analyzed the water of the 
wonderful Wakulla Spring and pronounced it well suited for manufacturing 
and bleaching palmetto paper. 

Yellow pine trees, large, long and straight, stand thick in places through- 
out the county, with an active and increasing demand for pine logs at 
Carrahelle, a bustling, booming new town on James Island. Average pine 
trees produce al)Out 2.')0 feet of merchantable lumber, but Dr. Wilson raftetl 
one from Sopchoppy to Carrabello that produced 1,200 feet. The price of 
logs is from $5 to $G per thousand feet at the mills, or from $4 to S5 on the 
landings along the creeks and rivers tributary to Carrabelle river anywhere 
within one hundred and fifty miles of the mills. The Carrabelle mills have 
sawed multiplied thousands of pine cross-ties for the construction of rail- 
roads in Ijouisana, Texas and Mexico. 

Turpenting is a very remunerative industry, and there is very little 
conflict of interest between turpentining and logging on the same territory 
at the same time. Loggers send the larger, longer, straighter heart pines 
to the mills for lumber, leaving the large crooked and all the smaller, sa|>- 
pier for turpentine. 

The piney woods are plenteously supplied with rich pine for burning 
tAr and pitch. 

There are five rivers and a dozen large creeks, together with numerous 
intermediate creeks and branches, some larger and longer, others smaller 
and shorter ; all short ; some pushing eastward, some southward, others 
westward ; and the inlets and outlets of all the branches and creeks and 
three of the 'Cwe rivers are within the limits of the county. There are 
many lakelets surnumded by l)anks steep and high ; some of them are 
running like rivers, others eddy; all deep ; some opaque, others transpar- 
ent as glass, and one blue as indigo. Superadded to all these flowing 
streams and eddy lakelets are many great springs starting creeks and riv- 
ers, all medicated ; some tinctured with lime, some sulphur and magnesia, 
others with corbonate of iron. 

Dr. Slosson, of Cincinnati, has purchased the Wakulla Spring for the 
purpose of establishing a winter sanitarium. The Wakulla and Xewport 
springs are connected by water. 

The summer range is good for eattle, sheep, goats and hugs. Stock 
cattle are worth #(') per head, sheep, ?S2 or $;i less ; goats, $1 ; hogs in pro- 
portion to size and condition. 

.\ll along the (rulf coast are •• bald sand flats," strongly saturated 
with brine, Irom wiiich any ((uantity of salt of a superior ([uality might 
be made with only a i\ominal outlay of time and labor, and the policy of 
every farmer should be to make all he can, sell all lie can, and buy only 
what he needs. 

i\.nd now I come to the •'■public meat-liouse ;" that is, the (iulf of 
Mexico. It is a house not made with hands. It is always brimming with 
nutritious and delicious meats, some of which are fish and 03'sters, green 
turtle, clams, crabs and shrimps. It is a source of revenue to many, com- 
fort and convenience to all, supplying deficiencies of bacon and beef. Its 
inexhaustible treasures are free alike to the lofty and the lowly, and the 
people make their winter recpiisitions by barrels — their summer rations are 
drawn to suit their necessities. It is impossible to estimate the actual an- 
nual average amount of mullet that are drawn from the '■ public meat- 
house," but I will approximate it. Eight pronounced fisheries beach not 



lf»0 Florida — Its Climate^ Soil and P rod^ictions 



less than ;}50,000. About sixty gill-nets are operated by day and by uight 
in shoal water, one or two miles oft" shore, which gill about 450,000, 
tooting up about 800,000, worth two cents each on the beach, or $5 
per barrel. About 400,000 pairs of yellow roe are acquired along with the 
mullet, worth 25 cents per dozen pairs, or from $8 to $10 per barrel. 800,- ^ 
000 mullet heads produce about 1,600 gallons of oil, worth |1 per gallon. 
The offal from 800,000 mullet, together with the tishes incidentally^ captured 
along with the mullet, and which are not delicious for food, might be trans- 
muted into guano, worth $40 per ton. Perhaps three-fourths of the mullet 
that are beached and gilled are sold in the round. The mullet se:iSon proper 
is from October 1 to December I. 

I have not sufficient data to venture an opinion us to the actual annual 
average amount of" bottom hsh "' (mostl}^ sea or speckle trout, sheepshead 
and red fish) that are drawn from the ''' public meat-house," but it is im- 
mense, both in numl)ers and pounds and dollars and (rents as well. Organ- 
ized companies (syndicates), amply equipped, are drawing them out all 
winter; they virtually live on and in the Grulf; their camp-fires may be 
seen for miles around the shore. Other companies, having boats and seines, 
fish when the wind and tide are right. A steady, strong northeast breeze 
uncovers the broad flats intervening the oyster bai's and exposes to view 
the deep water holes adjacent to the shore, in which all kinds and sizes of 
fish assemble for protection from the cold. The fishermen, at ebb tide, 
drag their seines through the holes and capture them by thousands. The 
•' bottom tish " season proper is from January 1 to March 1. 

Nor can 1 approximate the actual annual average amount of oysters 
that are tlrawn from the "• public meat-house." Having no locomotion it 
requires no cute maneuvering to approach, finger, tong, boat and beach them, 
but low tides are propitious for easy, speedy, superior selections. The}^ 
sell for 25 cents per bushel on the beach. 03'ster season propei- is from 
October 1 to May 1. (Channel oysters are good an}' time. 

Over .and above the foregoing :idvantages and resources of the '• public 
meat-house,'' thousands on thousands of wild geese and ducks annually 
visit our (Tulf shore on the approach of winter, and remain until the ap- 
proach of spring, furnishing delicious meats and downy beds to the stir- 
ring, persevering sportsmen. 

Sponges grow on rocks and shell under deep salt water, and when the 
fragmentary imrticles (shattered l)y the rugged process of dislodging them) 
strikes the l)ottom. like the dependent bi-anclies of the " Banyan tree of the 
East Indies," they produce a-new. A well-disciplined, vigorous, active, 
willing crew, supported by clear water and calm weather, coin money like 
a mint, but muddy water and windy weather make ultimate success uncer- 
tain, and isolation from home and societ}'^ and exposure to squalls and 
thunder storms m:ike it an exceedingly unpleasant industry. The supply 
is accumulative. 

CR.\WKOR]3\'iLLK, with a population of 13(), of whom 127 are whites and 
*.> arc blacks, is the county site. It was located in 1X66, and is uear the 
centre of the county. 

Old St. M.a.rrs was situated on the head of Apalachee bay. At oae 
time it was the commercial gateway of Middle Florida. It was an opulent, 
populous, prosperous town, with capacious and substantial ware-houses and 
broad. stroDg wharves, and six or eijrht stores : but the lowness of the 



Florida — Its Climate, Soil and Productions. 191 



ground and occasional equinoctial gales and floods suggested to the saga- 
cious St. Markers the necessity of seeking a greater degree of security to 
property and human life on higher ground. The Marine Hospital, dilapi- 
dated and deserted, is all that remains of Old St. Marks. 

St. Marks is situated on St. Marks river, eastward of and about six 
hundred yards from the original site. But the ground thereat lies too 
low also for protection to property, and the winds and waves have long 
since wafted its prosperity, property and population therefrom. Its popu- 
lation is 80, 28 of whom are whites and 52 are 1>lacks. It is a good lish 
market. 

Newport at one lime was the county site, connected by i)l:ri)k-road 
with Tallahassee, a village of commercial importance, and a resort for 
seekers of health and happiness, is now numbered among the things that 
were. The clear, cold, gushing, rushing sulphur springs, Dr. Beecher's 
orange grove (l)adl_y set back by the icy night of December 29, 1880), and 
(ieorge and Joe Ladd are relics of that once busy, thrifty village. 

The population of the county is 2,700, about two-thirds of whom are 
whites and one-third are blacks. Onlj' two villages in the county ( (Jraw- 
fordville and St. Marks), and the population of botii is 2111, thus showing 
the remarkable rurality of our people. 

The markets of the world are open to us by land aiul by sea, but our 
larger farmers market mainly at Tallahassee, the smaller at CraAvfordville 
and St. Marks. T'hey sell, buy and barter, in the conventional inter- 
change of domestic and commercial commodities, chicken-eggs are 
trumps — the merchants receive them in excjjiange for goods and in paynieut 
of accounts. Messrs. VV. W. and M. R. Walker, merchants at Crawford- 
ville, receive between 400 and 500 dozen per week, from January to 
June, and all these eggs are layed within a radius of live miles of the mar- 
ket. The merchants ship them to Jacksonville and Savannah. 

The V' . S. mails circulate to and from Ci'awfordville via St. Marks and 
Oil Still three times weekly; from and to Crawfordville via Sopchoppy to 
Smith creek post-oHlce twice weekly. It is reported that a new mail route 
has been recently let to circulate directly from and to 'l\dlahassee via Craw- 
fordville and Sopchoppy to Carranelle semi-weekly. 

There is a good supply of log and corn mills and cotton gins in the 
several geographical divisions of the county, some of which are operated 
by steam, others by water and-a few cotton gins by horse-powei. 

TTiere are twenty pul)lic schools — fifteen of which ai"e for the whites 
and five for the blacks. 

There are Primitive and Missionary Baptist and Methudist Churches 
in every neighborhood throughout the county, well snpplied with faithful, 
fervent preachers, with encouraging followings. 

Law, ordei' and good will are obvious characteristics of our people. 
Nearly all of them live in the country and till the ground for a living and 
yet they have a passionate hankering to trade. They trade iai'gely every 
winter — selling, buying, leasing ancl renting estates in land, without any 
capital whatever, and a motion to swap is always in order with thanks. 
They swap CAerything from homesteads down (mostly hoises), boot is the 
rule, even the exception, and as a rule their multitudinous stipulations, di- 
versified relations and deferred payments start and stop '^ within the cir- 
cumference of the law." There is next to no litigation in the county. 



192 Florida — lU C'limati^ Soil and Produ^-iiont 



Nevertheless, the sage Judge and sagacious State Attorney make the^r 
spring and fall visits just the same. 

P'irst-class pine land, $1 to S3 per acre : hammock land, from S2 to 810 
per acre, according to improvements. 

A N'ew York syndicate having fded in the ottiee of the iSocretary of Stat^, 
Articles of Association, with a view to forming a corporation to be known as 
the " Thomasville, Tallahassee and Gulf Railroad Company, and having 
surveyed one prelim innry route and about to survey two more from Thom- 
asville, Georgia, to Carrabelle, Florida, we have reason to hope that in the 
near future Carrabelle will be connected by rail with Chicago, Cincinnati 
and other cities of the great Northwest. The route indicated by the first 
preliminary surA'ey in this county — that is, by Wakulla Spring and Craw- 
fordville to *' Old Field," on Ocklockonee bay, stretches over a beautiful 
plain, clear of streams and swamps, through a heavily timbered pine forest, 
and adjacent to very large tracts of rich oak and hickory, and richer ham- 
mock lands — the main producing portion of the county. 

LlBEirrY CO UN TV. 

Area, SOO square miles or 512,000 acres. Population in 1860,1,451; 
in 1870, 1,050; in 1880, 1,362. Xura]>er of schools, 10 ; children of school 
age, 420; white, 309; colored. 111; school attendance, 155. Improve^l 
lands, 5,191 acres. Horses and mules, 158; cattle 4,621; sheep, 1.515; 
hogs, 2,282. Assessed valuation of property in 1881, $168,854. 

The soil of this county is much the same as that of Calhoun and Frank- 
lin. Pine lands of second and third class, more of the latter. Cattle- 
raising is the leading industry, but the ordinar}- staples are successfally 
cultivated. Orange-culture is receiving some tittention. and with some 
promise of success. 



STATISTICS. 



GOVERNORS OF FLORIDA AS A TERRITORY. 

idrew Jackson, July, 1821, to June, 1822 ; W. P. Duval, 1822 to 1834. During 
siou of Legislative Council for 1827-8 W. M. McCarty, the Secretary, was act- 
)vernor. Towaixls the close of Governor Duval's administration George K. 
r was acting Governor, John W. Eaton, 1834 to 1835 ; R. K. Call, 1835 to 1839; 
c Raymond Reed, 1839 to 1840 ; R. K. Call, 1840 to 1844 ; John Branch, 1844 

STATE GOVERNORS. 

. D. Moseley, 1845 to 1848 ; Thomas Brown, 1848 to 1852 ; James E. Broome, 
. 1856 ; Madison Perry, 1856 to 1860 ; John Milton, 1860 to 1865 ; A. K. Allison, 
Governor in 1865 ; Wm. Marvin, Military Governor until December, 1865 ; D. 
ker, December, 1865, to July, 1868 ; Harrison Reed, 1868 to 1873 ; O. B. Hart, 
Stearns, 1873 to 1877 ; G. F. Drew, 1877 to 1881 ; W. D. Bloxham, 1881 to 1884. 



STATE OFFICERS. 



EXECUTIVE DEPAKTMENT. 



yvernor — Wm. D. Bloxham, Tallahassee. 
eutenanU Governor — Livingston W. Bethel, Key West. 
cretary of State — John L. Crawford, Tallahassee. 
tmptroller — W. D. Barnes, Tallahassee. 
•easurer — Henry A. L'Engle, Tallahassee. 
torney-Oeneral—GeovgQ P. Raney, Tallahassee. 
ymmissioner of Lands — P. W. White, Tallahassee. 
'perintendent of Public Instruction — E. K. Poster, Tallahassee. 
ijutant- General — J. E. Yonge, Tallahassee. 

BUREAU OF IMMIGBATION, 

>mmission^r — A. A. Robinson, Tallahassee. 

erk — R. C. Long, Tallahassee. 

lecial Agent — Hon. Columbus Drew, Jacksonville. 

SUPREME COURT. 

iief-Justice — E. M. Randall, Jacksonville. 

isociate Justices — J. D. Westcott, Jr., Tallahassee ; R. B. VanValkenburgh, Jack- 

e. 

erk — C. H. Foster, Tallahassee. 



JUDICIAL CIRCUITS. 

rst Circuit — Augustus E. Maxwell. Counties — Santa Rosa, Walton, Holmes, 

ngton, Jackson, Escambia. 

cond Circuit — David S. Walker. Counties — Calhoun, Franklin, Wakulla, Lib- 

iradsden, Leon, JeflFerson. 

lird Circuit — E. J. Vann. Counties — Taylor, Madison, Hamilton, Suwannee, 

ibia, Lafayette. 

3urth Circuit — James M. Baker. Counties — St. Johns, Clay, Bradford, Baker, 

a, Duval. 

fth Circuit — James B. Dawkins. Counties — Sumter, Marion, Putnam, Levy, 

la. 

xth Circuit — H. L. Mitchell. Counties — Hernando, Hillsborough, Polk, Mana- 

onroe. 

venth Circuit — Wm. Archer Cocke. Counties — Orange, Volusia, Brevard, Dade. 






'■t. 



CHURCHES IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA. 

B\pTnsT. — Number of ministers, ; churches, 235 ; members — wiiite. 1». lOo ; 

,.,.l,uotl, 13,311 ; total, 21,376. 

Presbyterian. — Number of ministers, 19 ; churches, 36 ; members, 1.376. 

Episcopalian. — Number of ministers, 26 ; churches, 35 ; communicants, 3,000 : 
Sunday-school teachers, 350; pupils, 1,400; value of church properly above all in- 
debtedness, $150,000 ; contributions the past year, $34,000. 

Membership in Florida of Methodist Episcopal Church — whites. 171 ; ci>U»ied. 
3;114 

Methodist Episcopal South. — Number of itinerant ministers in Florida Con 
ierence. 75 ; local ministers, 116 ; local ministers in West Florida, 33 — total, 140. 
Members of Florida Ccmference, 10,699 ; members in West Florida belonging to Ahi- 
hama Conference, 3,103 — total, 13, 802. Sunday-schools in Florida Conference, 158 ; 
in West Florida of Alabama Conference,63 — total, 321. Officers and teacliers iu 
Florida Conference, 899 ; in West Florida, 63— total, 962. Pupils of Florida Confei- 
fuce, 5,637 ; of West Florida, Alabama Conference, 3,036— total, 7,663. 

Catholic. — Diocese of St. Augustine includes East, Middle and South Florida, 
N^ umber of Bishops, 1 ; priests, secular, 16 ; ecclesiastical students, 10, churches. 30: 
onvents, 9; Catholic population— white, 9,400 ; colored, 800 ; total estimate, 10,300. 

The above includes that portion of Mobile Diocese extending into West Fl<»rid.t. 

MASONRY IN FLORIDA. 

, Number of Masonic lodges, 86; members, 3,117. William E. Anderson, M. W. 
Urand Master, Black Water, Florida: DeWitt C. Dawkins, R, W. Grand Secretary. 
Jacksonville, Florida. 

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 

Number of Lodges, 14; members, 451. B. A. Meginniss, M. W, Graud blaster. 
Tullahassee. Florida ; Wm. M. Mcintosh, Jr., R. W. Grand Secretavv, Tallahassee. 
Florida. 



LIST OF NEWSPAPERS IN FLORIDA. 



Ai.ACHUA County — Bee, Adoocate, Gaines- 
ville ; Orange- Growers" Gazette. Mica- 
uopy ; Florida Crocker, Waldo. 

Bradford — Telegraph, Starke. 

Bkevard — Star, Titusville. 

Clay — Spring, Green Cove Spring. 

Columbia — Reporter, Lake City. 

Duval — Union (daily and weekly), Times 
(daily), FUorida Dinpateh (weekly), 
MetJiodist (weekly). Sentinel (weekly). 
Churchman, Jacksonville. 

KsCAMBiA— ^4rfM<f «c«- Gazette (semi-weekly). 
Commercial (semi-weekly), Pensacola. 

Fkanklin — Tribune, Apalachicola. 

Gadsden — Herald, Quincy. 

Hamilton — Times, Jasper. 

flF.KNANDO — Crescent, Brooksville ; Messen- 
ger, Fort Dade. 

llfLi-SBOKOUGU — Tribune, Progress, Guar- 
dian, Tampa. 

Jackson — Courier, Mariauna. 

Jefferson — Consiitiition, Monticello. 

fiKOX — Floridian, Land of Flotcers. Econ- 
omist, Spectator, Tallahassee. 



Levy — Journal, Cedar Key ; Kuterfnix^', 
Bronson. 

Madison — Recorder, New Era, l\Iadisou. 

Manatee — Herald, Fort Ogden. 

Marion — Banner-Lacon, Ocala. 

Monroe — Democrat, Key of the Gulf, iVV//7>. 
Lo. Opportunidad, and another Cuban 
newspaper. Key West. 

Nassau — Mirror, Express. Fernaudina. 

Orange — Reporter, Orlando ; Journal, San- 
ford ; Herald, Tavares ; Florida, Kis- 
simmee ; Setni- Tropical, Lake Eustis : 
Citizen, Apopka; Register. Altoona. 

PuTSk\M — Herald, Journal, Palatka. 

Polk — Informant, Bartow. 

Suwannee — Bulletin, Intelligevcer (month- 
ly). Live Oak. 

Santa Rosa — News. Milton. ' 

Sumter — Advance, Leesburg ; Times, Sun»- 
terville. 

St. Johns — I\e.ss, St. Johns Weekly, St. 
Augustine. 

Volusia — Herald, Enteipi-ise ; AgricvHu- 
rist, DeLand ; Times, Omnge ("ity. 



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BINDERY 
1903 



